Javier Mascherano expecting tricky Roma test

They take on Kazakh debutants Astana who are the first team from their country to qualify for the Champions League group phase.

Champions League group stage storylines and predictions]. We’ll get into this a bit more during the standard preview, but in order for Roma to contend with Barca’s impressive midfield, they’ll need to set up a protective shell of sorts, one that keeps Andres Iniesta away from any effective space on the pitch.

It is a measure of the way the balance of power is shifting in Manchester that, when the Champions League gets under way this week, more attention will be paid to City’s first game than Louis van Gaal returning to Holland with United.

“We already showed against Juventus we’re confident when facing the best teams in Europe”.

“Barça can’t strengthen until January and their squad looks a little bit threadbare now they’ve lost Pedro and Xavi, really experienced players”.

No, Barcelona and Real Madrid are not in the same round-robin group, but the two best players on the planet will be going head-to-head, in a manner of speaking.

In the squad values displayed here, the drop after ninth-placed Atletico Madrid becomes drastic. Will it be the same old story? United captain Wayne Rooney and Arsenal pair Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott are the only front-line English forwards registered for this season’s competition. “We know that will be very hard, that expectations are high, but anything other than aspiring to win all the titles is not good enough at this club”, Real full-back Alvaro Arbeloa said.

The simple notion of where he plays-defense or midfield-may decide the outcome of this match, but make no mistake, in order for Roma to pull this one off, they need a vintage performance from Danielino.

Why is it important to focus on teams wanting to win the group? Over 82% of group winners moved on to the last eight with 33 of 40 group winners in the past five years advancing.

Although its matches with Bayern Munich will be the biggest test for Arsenal in the Champions League Group Stage, a trip east to Zagreb, Croatia is never a walk in the park.

Can Benfica finally meet expectations and advance? Tactically, they’re teams that defend well and it’s not easy to score against them.

The app lets you watch classic matches from the UEFA Champions League, play three different mini-games, and compete for prizes. Porto, whose manager Julen Lopetegui serves a touchline ban, are looking to improve on last season’s run to the quarter-finals where they were defeated by Bayern Munich. Real should have got to the final, they should have beaten Juventus.

MESSI’S 100th: Lionel Messi is set to make his 100th appearance in the Champions League and look to add to his record 77 goals in the competition – a mark he shares with Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

That’s because Europa League victor Sevilla joins the four teams who qualified through their league positions.

Borussia Moenchengladbach’s joy of returning to Europe’s premier competition after a 37-year absence has been tempered by its worst ever start to the Bundesliga. BATE won by one goal against Irish and Hungarian teams before scraping past Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade on away goals.

Pep Guardiola’s tactical acumen has been called into question as a result of those failures at the business end of recent tournaments and Bayern’s decision to go and press Barcelona last season certainly appeared risky.

With top players Carlos Tevez, Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal having departed and new signees like Mario Mandzukic still settling in, Juventus has a long way to go to match its form from last season, when it came close to winning the treble.