The Champions League returns for another season, with the biggest teams in the world again vying for the most coveted of titles in club football.

Barcelona cantered to the title last season, with that ridiculous MSN partnership of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar making merry in front of goal, and the champions will start this new season as the favourites.

But, as has been said a lot of times already, no team has defended their title in the Champions League era, and Barcelona will need to create history if they are to stand atop the podium and lift the title at the San Siro in Milan come May, 2016.

Before that, however, there is the sometimes-fun, sometimes-not-so-much group stages, with a couple of them promising to be extremely close.

The group of death for this season, on paper, is Group D, with last season's runners-up Juventus joined by English Premier League bigwigs Manchester City, Europa League champions Sevilla and Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach.

Two of the biggest teams in the group play each other on matchday one, and that Manchester City vs Juventus game at the Etihad on Tuesday, should be the pick of the matches of the first week.

The other favourites also open their campaigns, of course, with Cristiano Ronaldo, fresh from breaking the La Liga goalscoring record for his club, and Real Madrid playing Shakhtar Donetsk at the Bernabeu on Tuesday, while Manchester United and Louis Van Gaal travel to Holland to face PSV Eindhoven.

Another match to watch on Tuesday is PSG vs Malmo as Zlatan Ibrahimovic plays his former team.

On Wednesday, you have the champions Barcelona taking on Roma, which should be a cracker of a match, while 2013 champions Bayern Munich open their Champions League campaign with an away match at Olympiakos.

Also in that same Group F with Bayern are Arsenal, who play away to Dinamo Zagreb. Fellow Premier League side Chelsea have a tricky, but winnable tie against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Champions League Schedule: Matchday One (All matches start 8.45 pm CET, 12.15 am IST, 7.45 pm BST, 3.45 pm ET):

Tuesday, 15 September: Group A: PSG vs Malmo; Real Madrid vs Shakhtar Donetsk.

Group B: PSV vs Manchester United; Wolfsburg vs CSKA Moscow.

Group C: Galatasaray vs Atletico Madrid; Benfica vs Astana.

Group D: Manchester City vs Juventus; Sevilla vs Borussia Monchengladbach.

Wednesday, 16 September: Group E: Roma vs Barcelona; Bayer Leverkusen vs BATE Borisov.

Group F: Olympiakos vs Bayern Munich; Dinamo Zagreb vs Arsenal.

Group G: Chelsea vs Maccabi Tel Aviv; Dynamo Kyiv vs FC Porto.

Group H: Valencia vs Zenit St. Petersburg; Gent vs Lyon.