Mouth-watering clashes lined up across Europe tonight as the Champions League begins
The UEFA Champions League kicks off today with an array of mouth-watering clashes being played across Europe as the continent’s elite football clubs begin their quest for glory.
Five-time winners Barcelona will host Scottish giants Celtic at the Camp Nou hoping to shrug of their shock League loss to new boys Alaves, as fellow Spanish side and last season’s first runners up Atletico Madrid play Dutch side PSV Eindhoven away.
English duo Arsenal and Manchester City will go into their first games tonight buoyed by their weekend league wins, hoping to make positive starts to their European campaigns.
Arsene Wenger’s side plays multiple French champions Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes, while Pep Guardiola’s men host German side Borussia Moenchengladbach at the Etihad Stadium.
German champions Bayern Munich host Russia’s FC Rostov at the Allianz Arena as new manager Carlo Ancelotti hope to add another UCL trophy into his already impressive trophy cabinet.
Other games that will be played tonight are;
- Basel vs Ludogorets Razgrad
- Benfica vs Besiktas
- Dynamo Kyiv vs SSC Napoli
English sides will be looking to improve their performances in the Champions League, having won the trophy just once in the past five editions and twice in the past ten.
Spanish sides have dominate the competition, winning three of the past five editions and five of the past ten.
Having acquired the services of Pep Guardiola and a number of top players, Manchester City are seen as the favourite English side to make a decent charge at the trophy.
Arsenal may also look to shrug off their Round of 16 blushes, having never gone past that stage in the past six editions.
Tottenham Hotspurs and Champions Leicester City aren’t favoured to beat the big boys, but the latter may just be looking to record more history in this competition having unexpectedly won the Premier League last season.
