5 games to look forward to in the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League
After a belated end to the previous Champions League season owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, the 2020-21 edition of the competition begins on Tuesday.
Defending champions Bayern Munich begin their title defence with a marquee clash against two-time Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid. The Bavarian giants are one of the title favourites, along with some of the other European bigwigs such as Real Madrid, Liverpool and Juventus.
Of course, the duo of Manchester City and Paris St. Germain, who are yet to win the competition, would provide stern competition, while the likes of Leipzig, Chelsea, Lazio and Atalanta will not be pushovers either.
5 games to look forward to in the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League
All the eight groups in the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League feature at least one former winner of the competition.
Four of these groups contain multiple winners, which means that there will be no dearth of high-profile games, as is usually the case in the Champions League.
On that note, let us have a look at the five games to look forward to in the 2020-21 edition of the Champions League.
#5 Paris St. Germain vs Manchester United
Manchester United haven't been a force to be reckoned with in the Champions League in recent times, but they have shown glimpses of their prowess every now and then.
United open their 2020-21 Champions League campaign against PSG after failing to qualify for the competition last season. But they will have fond memories from their last clash with the French champions.
After losing the first leg by two goals at home, the away side had it all to do in the return leg. United made an enterprising start when they opened the scoring in the second minute.
But when PSG equalised ten minutes later, the visitors were back to square one. To their credit, they rose up to the challenge and scored two unanswered goals to become the first team in Champions League history to win a tie after losing by two or more goals at home.
The two sides could not have in more contrasting form for this fixture. While both sides have lost two league games this season, PSG are second in Ligue 1 while United are languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
Nevertheless, with former PSG man Edinson Cavani available to make his debut, Manchester United would fancy their chances of getting a favourable result at the Parc des Princes. The Red Devils will look to top a group also containing last season's semifinalists Leipzig and tournament debutants Istanbul Basaksehir.
#4 Sevilla vs Chelsea
In one of the biggest-ever overhauls in recent history, Chelsea splashed the cash to land Bundesliga stars Kai Havertz and Timo Werner among a bevvy of other new acquisitions.
The star German duo has seemingly settled in at their new surroundings as they have already opened their accounts for their new club.
However, against last season's Europa League winners Sevilla, Chelsea will have their task cut out. Julen Lopetegui's men are one of the most well-rounded outfits in Europe and have one of the meanest defences.
On the other hand, Chelsea's defence remains their Achilles heel, as they squandered a lead against Southampton in a 3-3 home draw in their last game in the Premier League at the weekend.
At the Bridge on Wednesday, Chelsea would undoubtedly look for a positive result to harbour their hopes of topping a section also containing Krasnodar and Rennes as Lampard pits his wits with one of the finest tacticians in the game.