An intense scramble for the extra place going to the league that performs best in this year’s Uefa Champions League is to be a captivating sideshow when the tournament gets underway on Tuesday evening. The continent’s highest rated leagues have traditionally commanded four positions in the world’s most prestigious club tourney but with the event set to expand from 32 to 36 teams, it won’t be unusual for fans to abandon age-old rivalries to root for sides representing their countries.
Spanish sides were Europe’s preeminent force between 2011-2022, with Real Madrid (5) and Barcelona (2011 and 2015), winning seven out of the eleven trophies in the annual pulse racing competition. The departure of three of the top four Champions League record scorers, Cristiano Ronaldo (141), Lionel Messi (129) and Karim Benzema (90), all of whom featured for the Liga Santander behemoths has seen English Premier League sides wrest control of the competition.
Reigning champions Manchester City are the bookmakers favourites to follow up on last season’s victory over Inter Milan. Pep Guardiola’s go getters begin their campaign with a straightforward home encounter against 1991 European champions Red Star Belgrade. The decline of Serbia’s best supported club means Erling Braut Haaland, plunderer of 12 goals in the 2022/23 competition, will consider the season opener as an opportunity to lay early claim for the Golden Boot.
The presence of strong Premier League sides Liverpool, West Ham United and Brighton Hove and Albion in the continent’s second tier competition, the Europa League, implies the EPL could have as many as six teams in next year’s Champions League draw if any of the aforementioned trio wins the competition. They will certainly have no excuse for failure as English top flight sides command the biggest annual budgets compared to tournament rivals.
Robert Lewandowski (91) leads the all time charts for players featuring in this year’s competition. Poland’s record scorer will have the opportunity to extend on his tally when 1992, 2006, 2011 and 2015 winners Barcelona host Belgian champions Royal Antwerp at the city’s Olympic Games Stadium on Tuesday. Xavi Hernandez’s Blaugrana are in fine fettle having dispatched Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis 5-0 on Saturday with Lewandowski one of five different scorers. Antwerp captain Toby Alderweireld will have his hands full containing Barca’s leading marksman.
Seven time winners AC Milan have promised their fans that they will atone for Saturday’s embarrassing 1-5 annihilation at the hands of Inter Milan when they host Newcastle United in the early kick off. Eddie Howe’s Magpies are back in the competition after a twenty year hiatus but they will fancy their chances of upsetting the applecart at the San Siro. Rafael Leao, Christian Pulisic, Olivier Giroud, Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson are the men to watch.
The Parc des Princes rubber between Paris Saint Germain and Borussia Dortmund has attained must win status for Luis Enrique. The Parisian moneybags have won just two out of their opening five Ligue One rubbers, attracting the spotlight to Enrique, who guided Barcelona to success in 2015. Manchester United manager Eric Ten Haag will be under even more scrutiny as he plots a response to the club’s inauspicious start to the season when they face six time winners Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.
TUESDAY
AC Milan v Newcastle United,
Young Boys v RB Leipzig,
Paris Saint Germain v Dortmund,
Lazio v Atletico Madrid,
Feyenoord v Celtic,
Manchester City v Red Star Belgrade,
Shakhtar Donetsk v FC Porto,
Barcelona v Royal Antwerp
WEDNESDAY
Galatasaray v FC Copenhagen,
Real Madrid v Union Berlin,
Bayern Munich v Manchester United,
Sevilla v Racing Lens,
Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven,
Braga v Napoli,
Real Sociedad v Inter Milan,
Benfica v RB Salzburg