Another Champions League season underway

Apart from bitching about drawing Chelsea for yet another knock-out tie, I managed to not once blog about Liverpool's road to the runners-up spot in last year's Champions League competition. Maybe I jinxed them. In 2005, these pages conscientiously followed Liverpool's progress all the way to the title on that mad, glorious night in Istanbul. Maybe such devotion to documentation is needed again.

So, a 1-1 draw away to Porto to start with. I can live with that, so can Benitez and the team, most likely. At any rate, a draw at Porto is a heck of a lot better than drawing at home to Rosenborg. At least Porto is a former Champions League winning team, and quite recently too. Rosenborg is perfectly respectable, but have never progressed beyond the group stages of the Champions League. It's early in the season, but I get my digs into Chelsea whenever I can!

Early season predictions for the CL:

• AC Milan will get at least as far as the semi-finals.
• Arsenal will go further than Chelsea (!)
• At least one English team in the semi-finals.
  
• Top scorer for an English team in the group stages will be a Manchester United player
• At least 2 of the ties in the round of 16 will be settled by penalties.
• Real Madrid to outlast Barcelona