The biggest Champions League group stage flops this season.

The Champions League is a competition that often separates boys from men in European football as the group stage is coming to an end.

The top football clubs in the world compete in the UCL, and this season is no different as Manchester City attempts to defend its title.

After several seasons of near misses, the Citizens won the competition last term and we all know they deserved it.

Under Pep Guardiola, City is one of the best clubs in the world and has consistently proven that they can deliver top performances in every competition.

Last season, they won the treble in England and cemented their place as one of the world’s top teams.

They are not one of the teams with a huge pedigree in the Champions League and do not even have a good legacy among Premier League clubs, but can they retain their European crown?

That would be one of the hardest things to do when you consider the clubs who are competing with City to become the champions of Europe.

The Champions League gets difficult every season, and fans who follow the competition know there will be flops who simply fail to meet expectations.

As the group stage draws to a close, we consider the top flops in the competition so far and most fans who buy Champions League tickets will agree with us.

Antony, Manchester United

After the 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich that confirmed Manchester United would finish at the bottom of their group, a stat came out that Antony had not scored in 25 matches for United.

The Brazilian had been a big-money signing for United when Ten Hag came to town last season.

We all watched as Ajax stuck to their demand and made almost 100 million euros from the sale of Antony to the Red Devils.

The Brazilian has been a flop since he moved to England and he was a total disappointment in the Champions League this season.

Antony played four Champions League games for United, scored zero goals, provided zero assists and made zero impact.

He is the type of player who easily gets his manager sacked and we expect Ten Hag to be booted out of United sooner than later.

Casemiro, Manchester United

Another big flop of the Champions League group stage is Casemiro, a player for the same underperforming Manchester United team.

After missing out on signing Adrien Rabiot last season, United turned to Casemiro and paid big bucks to snap him up from Real Madrid.

The Brazilian had a superb spell at Madrid and won several trophies, including many Champions League crowns.

His first season for United was perfect and it is a reason why we had so much expectation on them this term.

However, Casemiro has been dismal and his performance in the Champions League so far has been horrific and nothing more.

One game he really struggled in was the home match against Galatasaray and he even earned a red card before the fixture finished.

Goncalo Ramos, PSG

Goncalo Ramos moved to PSG with a big reputation, having been outstanding in Benfica last season in Europe and domestically.

The striker benched Ronaldo in at least two games at the last World Cup in Qatar and scored seven times in the Champions League for Benfica last season.

This was enough reason for PSG to splash the cash on him as they looked for a long-term replacement for Kylian Mbappe, who seems to be on his way out of PSG this term.

Ramos has been terribly poor in the Champions League and has zero goals in his first five games, which is shocking.

Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United

What happened to the Bruno Fernandes of 2019-2021? This question would be on the minds of most Manchester United fans because those were the best years of the midfielder’s career.

When he joined United, he seemed unstoppable, could score goals, and provided assists from every area of the pitch.

United knew they had signed one of the best players in Europe and it did not take long before he became the club’s captain.

But he has also become a symbol of decline at the club in recent terms and was shocking in the group stage of the Champions League.

Fernandes scored twice and provided two assists in six games, but he did not have enough influence on the pitch and never looked like a good leader for the rest of his teammates.

Under his watch, the team struggled and he spent too much time whining at refereeing decisions.

Sergio Ramos, Sevilla

Ramos returned to his boyhood club Sevilla after a spell at PSG at the start of this season and it was good news for the Europa League holders.

Sevilla won the last Europa League and was given a free ticket to the group stage of the Champions League, so it was a blessing that Ramos agreed to join them as a free agent.

This was supposed to strengthen them in their bid to do well in the Champions League, but things have turned out differently.

Sevilla has been so poor that they could not even qualify for the Europa League as third in their group after collecting just two points from six games.

It is a shocking statistic, and it proves the decision to bring Ramos back to the club was not a good one.

Leonardo Bonucci, Union Berlin

Leonardo Bonucci was forced out of Juventus at the end of last season and Union pounced to add the Italian veteran to their squad.

Bonucci was a key member of the Juve squad that won nine consecutive league crowns and twice reached the final of the Champions League.

Union believed he would bring all that experience and help them make an impression in the Champions League.

In their first game, they did make an impression with a superb performance against Real Madrid, as they nearly avoided defeat against the European royalty.

However, things have gone downhill since then and they are around the relegation zone in the Bundesliga as well.

Union will look back at the decision to sign him and will be full of regrets because he has not made them better.

Angel di Maria, Benfica

When Di Maria left Juventus last season and decided to sign for Benfica, the Portuguese club made the most of it on social media and he was expected to help them do better than they have done in recent times.

They have been one of the dark horses in most Champions League seasons, but this term was a poor one for them.

Benfica waited until their last game of the Champions League season to win their first match in the competition.

Despite winning the World Cup with Argentina last year, Di Maria’s spell at Benfica has been awfully quiet, and he scored just once in five group games, with the goal coming in the final game of that round.

Wilfried Zaha, Galatasaray

Zaha snubbed a huge salary from Crystal Palace to move to Galatasaray because he wanted to play in the Champions League and compete for titles.

He may end this campaign by winning the Turkish league as Gala and Fenerbahce are competing for the title.

However, his form in the Champions League has simply been terrible, as he scored just once in six games.

We had expected him to do much better and his stat gives a good reason why most of the top Premier League clubs snubbed him for much of his career, even when he became a free agent.

There are so many players who simply did not meet expectations in the Champions League this season, but these are the main culprits.