Champions League and it's immediately great football: today Milan debuts with Liverpool and Juve with PSV Eindhoven

Great football tonight at San Siro for the new Champion that pits Fonseca's Milan against Liverpool in a classic that recalls the golden age of the two clubs. Also not to be missed is the return to the Champions League of Thiago Motta's Juve who must deal with the dangerous Dutch of PSV

To see the stars again. The Champions League is back and never like this year does it promise a show: the new formula, in fact, has deleted the old groups by virtue of a single ranking, in which everyone (or almost everyone) should remain in the running until the end. The first eight qualify directly for the round of 16, the next sixteen go to compete in the so-called playoffs, which should add a lot of spice to the first phase. The other big news is represented by the number of games (going up from six to eight) and opponents, since there will no longer be home and away matches, but four at home and four away against different teams. Last but not least, as they say in Hollywood, there are much more money up for grabs, given that UEFA, beyond the iron fist of facade, has understood the message of the Super League: the clubs wanted a bigger slice of the pie, otherwise the issue could have come back on the table.

This first edition of the new Champions League, then, sees us as great protagonists with five teams, starting with Milan and Juventus, the first to take the field.

Milan – Liverpool (21pm, Sky and Now)

Let's start from San Siro and the most fascinating match of the first day. Milan and Liverpool, in fact, bring 13 Champions Cups/Champions Leagues to the field, two of which were assigned in the finals between them, one for each side. Of course, times have changed and today The English start with a clear advantage on the starting grid, strong with a turnover that is close to 700 million (almost double that of the Devil) and a championship like the Premier League, considered the best in the world and therefore more "training" than Serie A, but a direct comparison, as we know, is another story and often goes beyond economic logic.

Until a few days ago, cosmic pessimism reigned over Milan, but the latest weekend improved overall mood: the Rossoneri easily won against Venezia, also recovering two points on Inter and Juventus, while Liverpool lost at home against Nottingham Forest, slipping to fourth place behind Manchester City, Arsenal and Newcastle.

But now the big tests are coming, so Slot's Reds and the derby next sunday, two challenges that can really direct Fonseca's future, in one direction or another. The English have enormous offensive potential, but they do not excel in the defensive phase, where they often leave inviting spaces for opponents. Will Milan be able to take advantage of this or will they end up falling back into the mistakes of the first days of the championship?

Fonseca: “Liverpool is an opportunity to show our value”

"Successes always bring confidence, but with Liverpool everything will be different – Fonseca thought -. The team is growing, winning always makes you feel better, now we will have an opportunity to understand if we are improving and learning, we will discover our real value. They are a great team, they play a good positional game and also have great individuals, I think they are among the favorites to win the Champions League. We will have to be defensively perfect to win, we absolutely must not make mistakes, we will need to be complete. This team can be very dominant in the future, defending well for me means first of all not losing the ball, we need to build a team that defends all together. The formation? I might even change something. I have to think about the various commitments, I can't forget that on Sunday there is the derby, even if the next match is always the most important one".

Milan – Liverpool, probable formations

Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Tomori, Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez; Fofana, Loftus-Cheek; Pulisic, Reijnders, Leao; Morata

On the bench: Nava, Torriani, Terracciano, Emerson Royal, Cage, Musah, Bartesaghi, Chukwueze, Okafor, Abraham, Zeroli

Trainer: Fonseca

Unavailable: Sportiello, Bennacer, Thiaw

Disqualified: no

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konaté, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, MacAllister; Salah, Szoboszlai, Luis Diaz; Diogo Jota

On the bench: Kelleher, Jaros, Endo, Gomez, Nallo, Tsimikas, Morton, Nyoni, Hill, Chiesa, Gakpo, Nunez

Trainer: Slot

Unavailable: Jones

Disqualified: no

Juventus – PSV Eindhoven (18pm, Sky and Now)

The other Italian team on the pitch is Thiago Motta's Juventus, struggling with Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven. A tricky match, because the Dutch certainly do not have the prestige of Liverpool, but they are far from being unprepared, as demonstrated by the clean run they have made so far in the Eredivisie (five wins out of five, the last one on Saturday against Nijmegen). And then the climate around the Old Lady has changed, in light of the draws with Roma and, above all, Empoli who have a bit the general enthusiasm has died down, showing that the “playful” revolution desired by Giuntoli and Thiago Motta is still far from being completed. Tonight's match, in short, is delicate because not winning it would open up further trials, all just a few days before super challenge against Conte's fast-moving Napoli.

The Juventus coach, despite his young age, knows how to handle pressure well, thanks to a career spent in clubs such as Barcelona, Inter and PSG, so he will not be influenced by criticism and will go straight on his way, aware that the improvements will largely come from the growth of his top players. Koopmeiners, Nico Gonzalez and Douglas Luiz disappointed at Empoli, not to mention Vlahovic, still too inconsistent compared to the salary of 12 million net per season: Thiago Motta will confirm them en masse, in the hope that the trust will be repaid starting this evening.

Thiago Motta: “We want to win, but there is no pressure”

“For my part, I am very proud of our Champions League debut, and we are playing at home against a good team and I can't wait for the match to start,” Thiago Motta underlined. “It will be a great challenge, we have to get results both for us and for the public. In football everything counts, experience, enthusiasm and desire. In Empoli we played well without getting the result we wanted, but now it's a closed chapter. The important thing is to have respect for all the opponents, we have to think about ourselves and what we will need on the pitch. PSV is a team used to having great possession, we we will have to recover a lot of the ball and be good at managing it. Pressure from the Champions League? I don't think so, Juventus has a beautiful history that must be carried with joy and pride. Vlahovic? He must know how to face criticism, look forward and continue like this".