LONDON: Spain has provided the winner of the last five Champions League finals, and six of the last nine, but Real Madrid and Barcelona could find their dominance under threat as the group stage begins this week.

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are considered the bookmakers’ favourites to lift the iconic trophy for the first time in Atletico Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium in June next year.

Meanwhile German record champions Bayern Munich are hoping to take the final step under new boss Niko Kovac, Qatari-backed Paris Saint-Germain will expect to clear new hurdles and Cristiano Ronaldo gives Serie A dominators Juventus added bite.

“The Champions League is a very difficult competition but a club like Bayern Munich must be looking to win it,” said Bayern’s James Rodriguez recently.

European governing body UEFA has introduced new split kick-off times with fixtures kicking off at 1655/1900 GMT each Tuesday and Wednesday.

Group ‘B’ opens the action this midweek with Inter Milan hosting Tottenham Hotspur and Barca welcoming Dutch league winners PSV Eindhoven.

Barca coach Ernesto Valverde is expected to put summer signings Arthur Melo, Arturo Vidal, Clement Lenglet and Malcom on the bench after a weekend win at Real Sociedad was secured by what full-back Jordi Alaba called the “perfect performance” of keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Lionel Messi’s Barca have had to endure seeing arch-rivals Real win three Champions League finals in a row and are looking to improve on their recent disappointing showings in the competition, having been knocked out at the quarter-final stage in the last three seasons.

Beating Real to the La Liga title did little to banish the humiliation of Barca’s exit in Europe last year after throwing away a 4-1 lead over AS Roma by losing 3-0 in the second leg.

Reigning champions Real must wait a day longer to begin their title defence, and chase for a fourth successive crown, against Roma in Group ‘G’ on Wednesday.

This has been a glorious European era for Real, who are targeting becoming the first club to win four in a row since they won the trophy in each of its first five seasons, between 1956 and 1960.

The men who have marked that era have gone, with Zinedine Zidane resigning and Ronaldo moving to Juve, but Real remain a formidable force.

Real coach Julen Lopetegui must decide who to leave out in a selection dilemma. If he persists with his front three of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio then there are just three midfield places up for grabs with Isco, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Casemiro and Dani Ceballos all in contention.

“It’s a long season and we just all need to be ready,” Spain midfielder Isco said. “As the coach has said, it’s important that we are all prepared to respond so that we can achieve you objectives this season.”

Roma made the semis in the past edition and are relishing the trip to Madrid.

“You don’t really have to prepare for it from a mental standpoint. The motivation comes naturally when you’re playing at the Bernabeu,” striker Stephan El Shaarawy said.

Viktoria Plzen host CSKA Moscow in the other group game.

RONALDO RETURNS TO SPAIN

Juve also start on Wednesday as Ronaldo makes an eagerly-awaited return to Spain when the Italian champions play Valencia in Group ‘H’.

All eyes will be on the Portuguese forward, the all-time top scorer in Europe’s elite competition and a five-time winner of the trophy, when he makes his first public appearance in Spain since ending a trophy-filled nine-year stay at Real in July.

Ronaldo’s last act for Real was lifting the Champions League trophy in Kiev after beating Liverpool 3-1 in the final before he dropped the bombshell in a pitch-side interview that he had decided to leave Madrid.

Ronaldo can expect a hostile reception in Valencia, who had to suffer 15 of his goals for Real and are returning to the Champions League for the first time in three years, hoping to improve on their miserable start to the La Liga campaign.

Ronaldo, who plundered a staggering 451 goals in 438 games for Real, made a slow start by his usual standards to life at Juventus by failing to score in his first three games but broke his duck with two strikes in Sunday’s 2-1 win over Sassuolo.

Manchester United take on Young Boys in Switzerland in the other group game.

After helping PSG re-establish domestic dominance last year, Neymar has little to prove with the club apart from achieving the big mission: Delivering a European title to the Qatari ownership. With Kylian Mbappe coming off the back of a starring role for winners France at the World Cup, new coach Thomas Tuchel has a wealth of attacking options.

PSG will meet one of the few teams in the competition which can rival their talent: Liverpool. Flush with more than $200 million in off-season signings, Juergen Klopp’s high-flying Liverpool have an early test of its credentials when they host PSG at Anfield on Tuesday.

Both sides have made perfect starts to their domestic campaigns with five wins, PSG thrashing St Etienne 4-0 at home on Friday and Liverpool enjoying a convincing 2-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur.

“We will try to be ready for PSG,” Klopp said. “We try to prepare but they are really good, a very interesting football project.”

In an intriguing Group ‘C, Napoli travel to 1991 winners Red Star Belgrade in the group’s other fixture.

English champions City host Olympique Lyonnais in Group ‘F’ on Wednesday also looking to make a mark in the competition they are yet to win despite huge investment from their Abu Dhabi owners.

Hoffenheim make their group stage debut away to Shakhtar Donetsk, with the game hosted in Kharkiv given the political situation in eastern Ukraine.

Bayern top the Bundesliga and have a perfect record under new coach Kovac and start Group ‘E’ away to Benfica on Wednesday.

Borussia Dortmund head to Club Brugge in Group ‘A’ on Tuesday when Atletico begin what they hope will be a long journey back to their home stadium away to Monaco.

And in Group ‘D’, also Tuesday, Schalke 04 host FC Porto — the last team to win the Champions League from outside Europe’s top four leagues — and Galatasaray face Lokomotiv Moscow.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2018