Holders and hopefuls enter the fray

Istanbul showpiece
Over the next three months, 32 clubs will compete in eight groups over six matchdays. By the conclusion of the group stage, on 7 and 8 December, 16 teams will have taken their place in the knockout round, which starts on 22 February. A total of 125 matches from now, the 2004/05 champions will be celebrating at the Atatürk Olympic stadium in Istanbul, Turkey on the night of 25 May.

European glory
Porto know all about European glory, having become the first side since Liverpool FC in the mid-1970s to claim the UEFA Cup and European Champions' Club Cup in successive seasons by beating AS Monaco FC in Gelsenkirchen in May. Víctor Fernández is in charge for the visit of group stage debutants PFC CSKA Moskva, while the man who masterminded Porto's achievements, José Mourinho, leads Chelsea FC for the first time in Europe against Paris Saint-Germain FC.

In-form Adriano
Valencia CF also have a new coach, Claudio Ranieri, in place for their game against RSC Anderlecht, while Roberto Mancini has one of world football's rising stars, Brazilian striker Adriano, at his disposal for his maiden campaign in charge of FC Internazionale Milano. The two-time winners start against Werder Bremen, the champions of Germany who are competing at this stage for the first time since 1993/94.

Larsson return
Arguably the highlight of the night will be the return of Henrik Larsson, now of FC Barcelona, to Celtic FC, the club for whom he performed with distinction over a seven-year tenure in Glasgow which yielded four Scottish League titles, two Scottish Cups, three Scottish League Cups and 173 goals. Whether the Swede will start is the subject of much conjecture. "I have made up my mind but I am not telling you," said Barça coach Frank Rijkaard.

Aiming high
FC Shakhtar Donetsk and the Italian champions and 2002/03 winners AC Milan complete Group F. The Ukrainian side are full of confidence having won all six of their league matches this season, captain Anatoliy Tymoschuk telling uefa.com: "In the past our club aimed to be the best in Ukraine, but now we are aiming to be the best in Europe."

Unblemished record
Like Shakhtar, Arsenal FC have an unblemished domestic record in 2004/05, having played some irresistible football in recording five straight Premiership victories. Arsène Wenger's cosmopolitan side have been installed as the favourites by some bookmakers to emerge triumphant in Istanbul next year despite a fragile record which has never seen them reach the semi-finals. PSV Eindhoven, unbeaten in the Netherlands, are Arsenal's first opponents at Highbury.

'We must win'
Panathinaikos FC's reward for ending Olympiacos CFP's seven-year dominance of the Alpha Ethniki was a place in Group E, where they meet the perennial champions of Norway, Rosenborg BK, in their opener in Athens. Panathinaikos's Israeli coach, Itzhak Shum, underlined the importance of a positive start. "It will not be easy, but we do not have any excuses - we must win," he said.

Unrivalled coverage
Log on to uefa.com for live and unrivalled coverage of the Champions League. Follow every kick of the ball in our unique match centres, which combine live text and audio commentary and live statistics from all the night's matches in eight languages, and do not forget that uefa.com is the only website to bring you video highlights of each match on the night and a pre-game audio panel show.