By SBI SOCCER
The first chapter of the 2015-16 UEFA Champions League will be written this week as the top teams across Europe look to get off to an ideal start toward capturing the prestigious title.
Manchester City vs. Juventus headlines this week’s action in a clash within the consensus group of death — Group D. Barcelona also begins its title defense in Group E action against Serie A side AS Roma.
As for players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Memphis Depay, they will have a chance to face off against their former respective teams when Paris Saint-Germain take on Malmö and Manchester United visits PSV Eindhoven.
Here is a closer look at the opening matches this week:
TUESDAY
PARIS SAINT-GERMINA VS. MALMÖ FF, AT PARC DES PRINCES, 2:45 P.M.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic began his career in 1996 with Malmö FF and made his senior debut three years later before going on to score 16 goals in 40 league appearances with the Swedish side.
Ibrahimovic has come a long way since then, including leading PSG to claiming all four domestic trophies last season.
Malmö FF, on the other hand, is making its second consecutive UCL group stage appearance after winning the 2014 Allsvenskan and advancing through the UCL play-off rounds while beating the likes of Celtic, FC Salzburg and Zalgiris.
REAL MADRID VS. SHAKHTAR DONETSK, AT SANTIAGO BERNABEÚ, 2:45 P.M.
Rafa Benítez’s first attempt at replicating his previous European continental competition success for Real Madrid begins at home.
Benítez captured the UCL title in 2005 with Liverpool and has also lifted the UEFA Cup with Valencia CF in 2004 and the UEFA Europa League with Chelsea in 2013. He will look to improve Los Blancos’ 5-6-1 record against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.
As for the Ukrainian club, it will be its third consecutive UCL season in which it will compete in matchday one action in Spain. Shakhtar drew 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao last year and took home a 2-0 win over at Real Sociedad in 2013.
VFL WOLFSBURG VS. CSKA MOSCOW, AT VFL WOLFSBURG ARENA, 2:45 P.M.
It’s déja vu for VfL Wolfsburg as the German side begin its second UCL appearance the same way it did the first time around, a home match against CSKA Moscow.
The two sides squared off in 2009 when Wolfsburg picked up a 3-1 win, but CSKA went on to advance from the group while Wolfsburg was relegated to the Europa League.
Wolfsburg returned to the UCL after a second-place finish in the Bundesliga last season while CSKA will look to have a better turnout in the group stage this time around after failing to advance in the previous two seasons.
PSV EINDHOVEN VS. MANCHESTER UNITED, AT PSV STADION, 2:45 P.M.
Just months after he completed a transfer to Manchester United, Dutch international Memphis Depay returns home to face his former team PSV Eindhoven.
Depay was vital to PSV’s championship season last year in the Eredivisie, as he scored 22 goals in 30 league games.
The 21-year-old winger has yet to score for United in the Premiership, but he has tallied two goals for his new team in UCL competition, both coming in United’s play-off round against Club Brugge.
Apart from Depay’s return the contest will also see PSV manager Phillip Cocu go up against Louis van Gaal, whom he played under for both Barcelona and the Dutch national team.
GALATASARAY VS. ATLÉTICO MADRID, AT ALI SAMI YEN SPOR KOMPLEKSI, 2:45 P.M.
Two recent UCL regulars in Galatasaray and Atlético Madrid will face off in Group C action with the Turkish side looking avenge a home loss in the 2009-10 Europa League season against the La Liga opponent.
Galatasaray dropped a 2-1 decision to Atlético in the round of 32 that year and was ultimately eliminated 3-2 on aggregate, but the Turkish double winner is back for its fourth consecutive UCL group competition and is hoping for a better performance than a last-place finish in the group stage last season.
Atlético, meanwhile, is competing in the UCL group stages for a third straight year. The 2014 runner-up have lost just one of its last six European group away games, but it came in matchday one action last season in a 3-2 loss at Olympiacos.
BENFICA VS. ASTANA, AT ESTÁDIO DO SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA, 3:45 P.M.
The Portuguese champions and two-time UCL winners Benfica is back in the group stage campaign for the sixth year in a row and it will open its 2015-16 campaign by hosting newcomers Astana.
Astana, the first-ever representatives from Kazakhstan to reach the group stage, got here by surviving the play-off rounds against APOEL and HJK Helsinki.
Benfica will hope to breakthrough its group stage woes with first-year coach Rui Vitória after it advanced to the knockout rounds just once in its last seven UCL campaigns.
MANCHESTER CITY VS. JUVENTUS, AT CITY OF MANCHESTER STADIUM, 3:45 P.M.
Both sides were the victims of the eventual champion Barcelona last season in the UCL, but Manchester City and runner-up Juventus will look to get off on the right note in the group of death clash in Manchester.
City, who is off to a perfect start in the Premier League this season, will look to take advantage of a Juventus side in disarray after the Italian side managed to pick up just one point through three Serie A matches into the season.
Juventus has not won in England since the 1996-97 UCL group stage but also has not lost on the road in UCL competition in its last four tries.
SEVILLA VS. BORUSSIA MÖNCHENGLADBACH, AT ESTADIO RAMÓN SÁNCHEZ PIZJUÁN, 2:45 P.M.
In the other Group D meeting, the two-time reigning Europa League champion Sevilla will host a familiar foe in Borussia Mönchengladbach after the two sides competed in an exciting round of 32 competition just seven months ago in the Europa League.
Sevilla won the first leg of that matchup, 1-0, at home, but Mönchengladbach twice equalized the second leg match in the opening half hour before Sevilla’s Vitolo put the aggregate score out of reach with a 79th-minute strike.
Nevertheless, Mönchengladbach qualified for its first full UCL participation in 37 years by finishing third in the Bundesliga last season.
Sevilla, meanwhile, won all seven of its Europa League games at its home ground last season while conceding just three goals. However, the La Liga side has yet to pick up a win this season after losing to Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup, a goalless draw against Málaga, 3-0 loss to Atlético Madrid and a 1-1 draw with Levante over the weekend.
WEDNESDAY
BAYER LEVERKUSEN VS. FC BATE BORISOV, AT BAYARENA, 2:45 P.M.
Making its third consecutive UCL group stage appearance, Bayer Leverkusen will look to continue its trend of advancing to the knockout stages when it opens its Group E fixture against Belarus’ BATE Borisov.
Leverkusen finished fourth in the Bundesliga and secured a ticket to the group stage after defeating Italian side Lazio, 3-1, on aggregate in their play-off matchup.
Leverkusen has reached the last 16 on each of its last six attempts, with the latest one coming last season in a penalty shootout loss to Atlético Madrid.
BATE had to survive three qualifying rounds to reach the group stage, but it managed to overcome Dundalk FC, Videoton FC and FK Partizan to earn its spot.
ROMA VS. BARCELONA, AT STADIO OLIMPICO, 2:45 P.M.
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique begins his club’s UCL title defense with a visit to his former club, AS Roma.
Enrique formerly managed the Italian side in 2011-12 but had a disappointing campaign. Roma failed to qualify for any European competition and Enrique opted to leave the club at the end of the season.
After a coaching stint with Celtic, Enrique returned to the club he played for from 1996-2004 and led Barça to a treble in his first year at the helm.
Roma, on the other hand, finished second in Serie A last season, but dropped a 3-0 preseason friendly at Camp Nou on Aug. 5.
DINAMO ZAGREB VS. ARSENAL, AT STADION MAKSIMIR, 2:45 P.M.
Croatian champion Dinamo Zagreb returns to the UCL group stage after two year’s of absence and will play host to Arsenal in the two club’s Group F opener.
The two sides previously met in the 2006-07 third qualifying round, with Arsenal picking up a 5-1 win on aggregate (3-0 at Dinamo and 2-1 at Arsenal).
In four attempts, Dinamo has never advanced from the group stage. The Gunners, meanwhile, have reached the round of 16 for 15 consecutive seasons but were eliminated at that stage for four straight campaigns.
OLYMPIACOS VS. BAYERN MUNICH, AT STADIO GEORGIOS KARAISKAKIS, 1:45 P.M.
Olympiacos swept its home wins in the UCL group stage last season, defeating the likes of Atlético Madrid, eventual runner-up Juventus and Malmö FF, but it will host a difficult side in German title holder Bayern Munich in their Group F clash.
Despite the home wins, however, Olympiacos failed to advance from the group stages last season, and will hope that new coach Marco Silva can lead the team to a better outcome this time around.
As for Bayern, it will look to extend the club’s streak of reaching the UCL semifinals of four consecutive season this year. Bayern has also won 11 straight opening contests in the group stage.
DYNAMO KIEV VS. FC PORTO, AT NSK OLIMPIYSKYI, 1:45 P.M.
FC Porto has not lost in Ukraine in all six of its trips and it looks to extend that streak when the Portuguese sides pays a visit to Dynamo Kiev.
The two clubs faced off six times previously, all in UCL competition, and have been placed in the same group twice in recent years. Both sides won on the road in the 2008-09 season, before Porto was able to pick up a 3-2 win at home and earn a 0-0 draw in Kiev in 2012-13.
The Ukrainian club has not been back in the UCL group stage since that ’12-13 season, but Dynamo won the double in domestic competition last season to earn the trip back.
Porto, meanwhile, will look for some redemption for last year’s exit. The club looked poised to advance to the semifinals after a 3-1 win in the first leg against Bayern Munich, but suffered a 6-1 loss in the return leg in Germany.
CHELSEA VS. MACCABI TEL AVIV, AT STAMFORD BRIDGE, 3:45 P.M.
Reigning Premier League champion Chelsea managed to pick up just four points through five matches in its domestic league so far this season, it will hope to get off on a better right note in the UCL when it welcomes Maccabi Tel Aviv in their Group G contest.
The Israeli double winners is back after 10 years of absence by way of beating FC Basel 3-3 on away goal rule in the UCL play-off round.
The last time Maccabi competed in the UCL group stages was in 2004-05, when they were placed in a group with three former winners in Bayern Munich, Juventus and Ajax.
VALENCIA VS. ZENIT, AT ESTADI DE MESTALLA, 2:45 P.M.
Zenit has never won on Spanish turf and La Liga side Valencia will look to keep that trend going when it hosts the Russian opponents at Mestalla.
This matchup also pits two former colleagues against each other as Valencia’s Nuno Espírito Santo and Zenit’s André Villas-Boas will reunite after both spent time together at FC Porto under then-manager José Mourinho.
Valencia is coming off a fourth-place finish in La Liga last year and defeated AS Monaco, 4-3, on aggregate in the UCL play-off round to secure a berth in the continental tournament after two years of absence.
For Zenit, this is its fifth consecutive season competing in the UCL group stage. The Russian side was relegated to the Europa League last season before losing 4-3 on aggregate to the eventual champion Sevilla in the quarterfinals.
GENT VS. LYON, AT KAA GENT STADIUM, 2:45 P.M.
UCL debutant Gent earned a spot in the competition’s group stage after capturing its first Belgian title in 115 years back in May, and it will play hosts to Lyon in their Group H matchup.
A second-place finisher in Ligue 1 last season, Lyon returned to the UCL group stage for the first time since 2011-12 when it reached the round of 16.
Prior to that, Lyon had qualified for full participating in the continental tournament for 12 consecutive seasons, including a semifinals finish in 2010.