The Champions League is here and with that comes the content games most inaccurate endeavour: attempting to pick every one of the 144 matches in the league phase. Last year we had Real Madrid top, Napoli on the verge of a bye to the round of 16 and Villarreal on an impressive 11 points. We also had Kairat on one point and a goal difference of -16 but no one ever wants to celebrate your moments of near-perfection, do they?
I suppose what I'm saying is, don't take these predictions to your local sportsbook. However by all means bookmark them and we can pick this up again on January 27. The headline act for week one, just as he would want it, Jose Mourinho serves up the most impressive performance of the round as his Real Madrid side get much the better of his former employers Inter, Kylian Mbappe translating his gaudy acquisition of shots from LaLiga into the Champions League.
Meanwhile, it's a tough start for the debutants. LASK and Viking losing by one goal on the road while Como find themselves held to a point by a counter-punching RB Leipzig. As for Azeri side Sabah, a night under the Old Trafford lights is a memorable experience even if Michael Carrick's side eventually breezes through.
In a familiar theme for the league phase, the competition starts quite rosily for the English clubs. All bar Manchester City emerge victorious, Enzo Maresca's side twice pegged back by an impressive-looking Porto. A shock-heavy second week, particularly for Spain's big two, who run into brutal away games at precisely the wrong moment.
Victor Osimhen and Barıs Alper Yilmaz run riot behind Barcelona's high line while Mourinho's return to the Eternal City is a painful one, with Donyell Malen scoring yet more goals. The drama is not done there. One of the intriguing questions of the last two seasons has been whether Paris Saint-Germain are indifferent to the league phase or whether their continued involvement in the knockout playoffs is just a coincidence.
A 1-0 defeat at the Etihad suggests there might be something to the former viewpoint, a rotated iteration of the holders never really rousing themselves in pursuit of victory. Maybe the biggest shock of all comes in Azerbaijan. Sabah, who, according to clubELO, rate as a relegation scrapper in the EFL Championship, win their first home match of the league phase, downing Slavia Prague in dramatic late fashion.
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