Barcelona opens its Champions League title defense against a familiar face when it faces Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan at San Siro.
Assistant to Bobby Robson at Camp Nou in the late 1990s when Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was an influential midfielder, Mourinho has since won the Champions League with FC Porto, two English league titles with Chelsea and Serie A with Inter.
Now he comes face to face with Guardiola, who last season guided Barca to the domestic league and cup titles as well as the Champions League. Although this is the first round of the long group stage of matches, Mourinho will want to make a mark by guiding Inter to a victory.
Wednesday's game could also see Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Inter's Samuel Eto'o facing each other a season after they played for each other's clubs. The two stars swapped teams in the offseason and Mourinho, who once described Ibrahimovic as the best striker in the world, said he would not dwell on the Swede's departure.
"A player that gave me as much as Ibra will always be in my heart, but I'm someone who forgets quickly and I'm focusing on my current players now," Mourinho said on Sunday. "We'll exchange a big hug before the game but, during the match, I don't even want to know who he is. He did a lot for Inter and Inter did a lot for him."
Eto'o, who scored Inter's first goal in Sunday's 2-0 victory over Parma, said Inter ought not overestimate the game against his former club.
"Now that the game against Parma is over we can think about Barcelona," he said. "We won't have any problems. We've just got to prepare ourselves well and approach this game in the best manner possible.
"Inter-Barcelona will be an important game for Inter, because it's the first in the Champions League, but I think all the games are important."
Barcelona and Inter are the strong favorites to qualify for the last 16-team knockout stage from their group and leave Dynamo Kiev and Russian champion Rubin behind. They meet Wednesday in Ukraine.
While Barcelona aims to become the first club since AC Milan in 1989-90 to collect the famous trophy two years in a row, England's Premier League hopes to maintain its strong recent performance in getting three clubs to the last four two seasons in a row.
Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United - the last four Champions League runners up - are back again, while United won the title in 2008.
Manchester United begins the group phase away to Turkey's Besiktas on Tuesday and also has surprise German champion Wolfsburg ad CSKA Moscow in its group.
Now guided by Carlo Ancelotti, who won the title with Milan as a player and a coach, Chelsea begins against FC Porto. The two clubs also have to face Atletico Madrid and APOEL Nicosia, who also meet on Tuesday.
Arsenal goes to Standard Liege on Wednesday, when group rivals lympiakos and AZ Alkmaar also meet. The Gunners come off their second Premier League loss in a row - 4-2 at Manchester City - while Standard will be without captain Steven Defour who broke his right foot in a league game on Saturday.
Five-time winner Liverpool hosts Hungarian Debrecen, which makes its firs visit to Anfield on Wednesday. Lyon, which has won six games in a row, meets Fiorentina in the other group match.
The Premier League's strong show contrasts with the decline of Serie A in European football's top club competition, one it used to dominate.
Four Italian sides have made it to this stage with seven-time winner AC Milan traveling to Marseille for its opening game on Tuesday and a mouthwatering meeting with nine-time winner Real Madrid further down the line.
Madrid, which has not won the title since 2002, starts with a visit to FC Zurich and Saturday's 3-0 win at Espanyol with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring for the second game in a row has given the Spanish football giant a confidence boost.
Routed 4-0 by Inter and held 0-0 on Saturday by lowly Livorno, Milan has made a poor start with Ronaldinho off fom.
"Ronaldinho is a fundamental player and, when he's in form, he makes an impact," said coach Leonardo.
Juventus begins at home to French champion Bordeaux on Tuesday but may be without playmaker Diego, who picked up a thigh injury in Saturday's 2-0 victory over Lazio. Bayern Munich, which has won te title four times, goes to Maccabi Haifa in the other group game.
Unirea Urziceni is one of eight clubs making their debuts at this stage of the competition and the team which has only been in top flight Romanian football for three years hopes to make a mark by winning away to Sevilla on Wednesday.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com
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