UEFA Champions' League Matchday 1 throws up some even more intriguing ties for the matches scheduled on 15th September. . <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">Group E</span></strong> <p style="text-align: justify;">Kicking off things in <strong>Group E</strong>, last year’s runner-up <strong>Bayern Munich</strong> take on <strong>AS Roma</strong>. The <a href="http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/how-the-bundesliga-could-take-serie-as-fourth-champions-league-spot.html" target="_blank">coefficient battle</a> between <em>Serie A</em> and <em>Bundesliga</em> have reached fever pitch giving this tie an added edge. Both clubs have started slowly in their domestic leagues. Last week <strong>Roma</strong> were humbled 5-1 by <strong>Cagliari</strong> while <strong>Bayern</strong> struggled to break down a resolute <strong>Bremen</strong> defence. The absence of talismanic <em>Arjen Robben</em> and a weak central defence have added to <strong>Bayern</strong>’s woes. <strong>Roma</strong> would need to improve a lot from their first two game,s if they have to salvage anything in the fortress called <em>Allianz Arena</em>.</p> <p style="padding-left: 120px;"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/uefa-champions-league/image/8902858?term=muller+bayern" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/8902858/uefa-champions-league/uefa-champions-league.jpg?size=380&imageId=8902858" border="0" alt="Thomas Muller of Bayern Munich..UEFA Champions League Final..Internazionale v Bayern Munich..22nd May, 2010." width="380" height="538" /></a><em> ----------------------The next Bayern legend?------------------------</em></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Two un-fancied teams face-off in the other <strong>Group- E</strong> game. <strong>CFR Cluj</strong> shocked Europe the last time they played in <em>Champions’ League</em>; they defeated <strong>Roma</strong> 2-1 and drew 0-0 with <strong>Chelsea</strong>, before losing their way. Facing them will be <strong>FC Basel</strong>. The Swiss club who famously inspired <strong>Barcelona</strong>’s logo will look to recapture their form of early 2000s, when they had once knocked<strong> Liverpool</strong> out of the group stages.</p> <p style="text-align: center;">---------------</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>Group F</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Group F </strong>contains English Champions <strong>Chelsea</strong> along with French numero uno <strong>Olympic Marseille</strong>. Former <strong>Juventus</strong> legend <em>Didier Deschamps</em> inspired <strong>Marseille </strong>to a title win after a decade of disappointment. Deschamps has experience in Champions’ League too, having led <strong><a href="http://www.thehardtackle.com/index.php/high-five-five-fun-teams/" target="_blank">AS Monaco</a></strong> to a memorable final in 2003-04. His team beat <strong>Chelsea</strong> on the way to the final. <strong>Marseille</strong> have so far been disappointing in <em>Ligue-1 </em>and will look to bounce back in Europe. They have a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_UEFA_Champions_League_Final" target="_blank">rich history</a> in European football being the first and only French team to win UCL. They will have to be careful against <em>Valeri Karpin’s</em> <strong>Spartak Moscow - </strong>the third team in the group. <em>Karpin</em>’s coaching got rave reviews last season and <strong>Spartak</strong> played some brilliant football, finishing second. But the Midas touch seems to have vanished this season as they are languishing in mid-table of <em>Russian League</em>. Striker <em>Welliton</em> has been scoring a lot of goals, but they have also let in too many goals.</p> <p style="padding-left: 120px;"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/news/chelsea-stoke-city-2010/image/9621057?term=ramires" target="_blank"><img src="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9621057/chelsea-stoke-city-2010/chelsea-stoke-city-2010.jpg?size=380&imageId=9621057" border="0" alt="Stamford Bridge, Chelsea v Stoke City, Premier League 28/08/2010 Ramires of Chelsea in action Photo Marc Atkins Fotosports International Photo via Newscom" width="380" height="455" /></a><em> ------Ramires has started his Chelsea career with a bang------</em></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">English powerhouse <strong>Chelsea </strong>has started the season with a bang. They swept all in their way domestically in 2009-10 and so far have shown no signs of stopping. With a squad and coach blessed with experience in the highest level, <em>The Blues</em> are one of the contenders for the European title. Anything less than a victory against tiny Slovakian outfit <strong>MSK Zilna</strong> will be a shock.</p> <p style="text-align: center;">----------------</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>Group G</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">If anyone ever planned to create a <em>Champions’ League</em> group which would have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Cup_and_UEFA_Champions_League_records_and_statistics" target="_blank">both rich history and big names</a>, then he/she would have wished to make <strong>Group G</strong>. <strong>Real Madrid</strong>, with nine European titles (a record) and 31 Spanish titles (again a record); <strong>AC Milan</strong> with 7 European titles (2<sup>nd</sup> after <strong>Real</strong>) and 18 officially recognized international titles (a record); <strong>Ajax Amsterdam,</strong> four time winners of European Cup and one of the select few clubs to have won every club trophy. The fourth member of this group, <strong>AJ Auxerre</strong>, a modest French club seems like a misfit in this galaxy of big players, but hold that thought, they knocked out big spenders <strong>Zenit St. Petersburg</strong> and are more than capable of causing an upset in UCL group stages as well.</p> <p style="padding-left: 120px;"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/entertainment/real-madrid-ronaldo-runs/image/9626709?term=ronaldo+real" target="_blank"><img src="http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9626709/real-madrid-ronaldo-runs/real-madrid-ronaldo-runs.jpg?size=380&imageId=9626709" border="0" alt="Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo runs with the ball during their Spanish first division opening match against Real Mallorca at the Iberostar stadium in Palma de Mallorca August 29, 2010. REUTERS/Albert Gea (SPAIN - Tags: SPORT SPORT SOCCER)" width="380" height="526" /></a><em> Ronaldo would look to get over last season's disappointment</em></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Real Madrid</strong> face <strong>Ajax</strong> in first round. The <em>Dutch</em> powerhouse, renowned for their youth Academy, has been playing some spectacular football under <em>Martin Jol</em>, notching an astonishing 106 goals last season. <em>Luis Suarez’s</em> middle name will soon become “<em>Goal</em>” if he continues scoring in this rate. This season <strong>Ajax</strong> has so far recorded 25 goals in 8 matches. However, despite their prowess upfront, their defence remains a weak point. They were almost knocked out in the qualifiers because of their inability to defend their leads. What could be a better litmus test than the star studded attack of <strong>Real Madrid</strong>? <strong>Real</strong>, in a bid to recapture their old glory, roped in <em>Jose Mourinho</em> in the summer. Success and <em>Mourinho</em> are synonymous; <strong>Real</strong> would be hoping that the trend doesn’t buckle. So far their form has been ordinary in the league but this game might be the start of the new <strong>Real Madrid</strong> dynasty. <em>Mourinho </em>has broken a lot of records as a coach. He would love to break <strong>Real</strong>’s jinx against <strong>Ajax.</strong> In the 6 encounters so far between the two,<strong> Ajax</strong> has won four and lost just one. <em>Mourinho</em> does have a good record against <em>Jol</em>. <em>Jose’s Chelsea </em>won five of the seven encounters against <strong>Jol’s Tottenham Hotspurs</strong>. <strong> </strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>AC Milan</strong> take on <strong>Auxerre </strong>in the other match of the day. <strong>Auxerre</strong> have been horrible in <em>Ligue-1</em> till now but they played pretty well to knock out <strong>Zenit</strong> in qualifiers. <strong>Milan</strong> are still reeling from a shock 2-0 loss to <em>Serie A</em> newbie <strong>Cessena.</strong> The much hyped strike force of <em>Ibrahimovic, Pato, Ronaldinho and Robinho</em> still needs some time to properly gel. <em>Allegri</em> has very little experience in the <em>Champion’s League</em>, which might hurt <strong>Milan</strong>. Either way, they would not like to miss out on 3 points in this match.</p> <p style="text-align: center;">---------------</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>Group H</strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Group H</strong> features a clash between <strong>Arsenal </strong>and <strong>SC Braga</strong>. The Portuguese outfit created the biggest shock of qualifying round as they soundly defeated <strong>Sevilla</strong> in both the legs. However, they will be weary of <strong>Arsenal</strong>’s recent dominance over Portuguese teams. <strong>Porto</strong> has lost 4-0, 5-0 and 2-0 in <em>North London</em> against <strong>Arsenal </strong>in recent times. Other than <strong>Manchester United</strong>, no other team has managed to win a game in <em>Emirates Stadium</em> in UCL. <strong>Arsenal </strong>curved out an impressive 4-1 win last weekend, <em>Arsene Wenger</em> thinks the current <strong>Arsenal</strong> team is <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1311546/Arsene-Wengers-convinced-Arsenal-win-Champions-League.html" target="_blank">capable</a> of ending the club’s long cycle of underachievement in Europe.</p> <p style="padding-left: 120px;"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/news/marouane-chamakh-arsenal/image/9573735?term=chamakh" target="_blank"><img src="http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9573735/marouane-chamakh-arsenal/marouane-chamakh-arsenal.jpg?size=380&imageId=9573735" border="0" alt="Marouane Chamakh Arsenal 2010/11 Arsenal V Blackpool (6-0) 21/08/10 The Premier League Photo Robin Parker Fotosports International Photo via Newscom" width="380" height="274" /></a><em> ----------Can Chamakh replicate his Bordeaux form?-------------</em></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Group H</strong>’s other encounter sees a mouth watering Eastern European tie. <strong>Partizan Belgrade</strong> take on <strong>Shakhtar Donetsk</strong>, <em>UEFA Cup</em> winners two seasons ago. Both teams faced off in last season’s Europa League. <strong>Shakhtar</strong> won the home leg 4-1, while <strong>Prtizan</strong> revenged in the away leg, edging the tie 1-0. <strong>Arsenal</strong> is the strong favorite in this group but the 2<sup>nd</sup> place is up for grabs.</p>