Chelsea and Manchester United fly the flag for England on Tuesday as the pair embark on what will hopefully be the winding road to Kiev next spring and a Champions League final.
Both have built solid early foundations in the Premier League and plenty is expected as they make a return to the top tier of European club football.
Last month’s draw for the opening round of fixtures could not have been much kinder either with them long odds-on to get the better of Qarabag at Stamford Bridge, and Basel at Old Trafford, respectively.
Qarabag are an interesting group having become the first team from Azerbaijan to reach this stage of the competition.
They have been dismissed as total rags at 150/1 to win Group C and 40/1 simply to qualify but a well-drilled, passionate collection of players and coaches are not just here to make up the numbers with the potential to make one or two of these nights uncomfortable for more established outfits.
It would be an almighty clanger from the hosts though if they did not get off to a perfect start – considerably worse than when they totally took their eye of the ball in the Premier League opening-day defeat at home to Burnley.
Manager Antonio Conte has rattled a few cages since and seen his team respond with three straight victories as record summer signing Alvaro Morata settles in nicely while Eden Hazard is pretty certain to be unleashed from the start having proven his fitness against Leicester at the weekend.
Morata brings plenty of experience at the sharp end of this competition too having won it with Real Madrid in 2014 and 2017 and I am sure Conte feels this is the arena where the Spaniard will thrive most.
The fact he has adapted so quickly to life in the English top flight is a real bonus and he looks in good nick to justify favouritism when it comes to opening the scoring.
I will head northbound instead to Manchester for the night’s best bet and Paul Pogba in the anytime scorer market at 9/4.
The Frenchman has improved significantly over the summer and is starting to look like the investment United spent a trifling £90m on in 2016.
Nemanja Matic’s arrival has allowed Pogba to maraud into more threatening areas further up the field with two goals already tucked away against West Ham and Swansea.
He almost grabbed number three from a corner on Saturday at Stoke but for his goal-bound header being deflected off the back of a completely unaware Marcus Rashford.
He won’t be given many better opportunities in Europe this season to get on the front foot against a side that realistically remains out of its depth at this level although keep an eye on them up front as the Swiss have ex-Norwich flop Rickie van Wolfswinkel in their ranks.
Parkhead should be rocking as Celtic play host to Paris St Germain after the Scots nearly blew their chance of reaching this stage against Astana in the final qualification round.
Celtic have proven quite resilient on their own patch in European fixtures in recent years but quite how Brendan Rodgers goes about keeping the visitors under wraps should make for compelling viewing.
PSG warmed up last Friday night with a 5-1 drubbing of Metz without getting out of second gear and you get the impression they are just starting to warm up.
Recommended bets:
1pt Paul Pogba to score anytime v Basel at 9/4 - starting to see the full array of his talent this year and another goal is on the cards
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Posted at 1830 BST on 11/09/17.
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