PARIS —Here we look ahead to Wednesday’s Champions League action as Real Madrid begins its defense of the trophy and Leicester City makes its debut in the competition (all kick-offs 1945 GMT).
Group E
Bayer Leverkusen vs. CSKA Moscow: Third in the Bundesliga last season, Leverkusen goes into the group phase for a fourth consecutive year. Finland forward Joel Pohjanpalo scored a hat trick, with two added-time strikes, in Leverkusen’s 3-1 weekend win over Hamburg.
Russian champion CSKA, also in its own fourth straight Champions League campaign, is on a roll of 14 matches unbeaten in its domestic league.
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Monaco: The match will be played at Wembley, which the visitor may appreciate due to the fact it was thrashed 4-1 in the Europa League at White Hart Lane last season.
Spurs’ highly rated Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino is regalvanizing the side which won 4-0 away at Stoke City at the weekend.
Monaco goes into the tie in buoyant mood as it won 4-1 win at Lille Saturday.
Group F
Real Madrid vs. Sporting Lisbon: Real begin its quest to become the first club to retain the trophy in the Champions League era with an intriguing home tie against Cristiano Ronaldo’s first club.
Ronaldo’s winning penalty in the final shoot-out against Atletico Madrid clinched Real a record 11th title last season.
Ronaldo’s boyhood club turns up at the Santiago Bernabeu in good shape after a 3-0 win over Moreirense at the weekend.
Legia Warsaw vs. Borussia Dortmund: Dortmund, returning after a one-year absence, edged Real Madrid 4-3 on aggregate in the semifinals three years ago en route to the final which it lost to Bayern Munich.
The 1997 champion is in Warsaw to take on the first side from Poland in the competition in 20 years.
Group G
Club Brugge vs. Leicester City: After its fairytale Premier League title triumph last season, Leicester begins its maiden Champions League voyage with the short trip to Belgium to face Club Brugge at the Jan Breydelstadion.
This will be the Foxes’ first European game since a 3-1 defeat to Red Star Belgrade condemned them to a first-round exit in the UEFA Cup in September 2000.
However, for its manager Claudio Ranieri this is the start of a sixth Champions League campaign with a sixth different club.
Club Brugge is the only Belgian club ever to have reached the European Cup final, losing 1-0 to Liverpool at Wembley in 1978.
Porto vs. FC Copenhagen: Third in the Portuguese top flight last season, Nuno Espirito Santo’s Porto beat Roma 4-1 in the playoffs to reach the group stage for the sixth season running.
Copenhagen’s last group-stage appearance came three years ago when it bowed out with just one win in six games.
Group H
Lyon vs. Dinamo Zagreb: Dinamo will be looking for revenge after suffering a 7-1 whipping at home by Lyon in 2011-12, the French club’s biggest victory in the European competition. Lyon lost all three home group stage games last season.
Juventus vs. Sevilla: Two-time European champion Juventus, the most-fancied Italian side in Europe this season, meets Sevilla for a second straight year in the group stage.
Last season Juventus won 2-0 at home and Sevilla won 1-0 in Spain.
The Italians warmed up with new signing Gonzalo Higuain scoring twice in a 3-1 Serie A win over Sassuolo in Turin at the weekend and is riding a 17-match unbeaten home run in UEFA competition going back to April 2013.
Sevilla won the Europa League for a third consecutive time after its group-stage exit and is also coming off a 2-1 Liga win at home against Las Palmas.
