The Champions League returns this week with all four Premier League sides kicking off their campaigns having had very different relationships with this competition in recent seasons.
Manchester City are out to defend their crown, whilst Arsenal and Newcastle are back after lengthy absences, although Eddie Howe’s side have had by far the longer wait at 20 years.
Manchester United, meanwhile, will be looking to bring Erik ten Hag some respite from a disappointing start to the domestic season.
The PA news agency looks at the four sides the English clubs will face first.
Manchester City v Red Star Belgrade (Tuesday)
Red Star Belgrade clinched a record 34th league title in comprehensive fashion last season, finishing the campaign unbeaten and dropping only 14 points along the way.
They had to contend with the resignation of their manager, the former Inter Milan midfielder Dejan Stankovic, in August 2022 after the team were eliminated in the Champions League play-off round, though his replacement Milos Milojevic enjoyed a seamless transition as the club cantered to a sixth straight crown.
This season has seen another managerial change with the club appointing the Israeli Barak Bakhar, whose Maccabi Haifa side were responsible for Red Star’s Champions League elimination last August.
Central to last season’s success was winger Aleksandar Katai who weighed in with 19 goals, though with the country’s top stars increasingly been lured to foreign teams, the club is acclimatising to a new reality in which virtually none of the current Serbia side play for them, an unthinkable situation until recent years.
The club had to be bailed out in April by over £2million of government money, a month after they had settled an outstanding hefty tax bill. It all means Bakhar’s team has been assembled on a budget and could struggle against treble-winning City.
AC Milan v Newcastle (Tuesday)
On paper, Newcastle could not be facing Milan at a better moment, coming off the back of their humiliating 5-1 defeat to city rivals Inter on Saturday.
Reports in Italy suggest that manager Stefano Pioli will respond by altering his line-up with former Chelsea forward Christian Pulisic, who has started all four league games and scored twice since moving to Serie A, in line to be dropped in favour of summer signing Samuel Chukwueze.
England international Fikayo Tomori could also return in central defence after missing the Inter thrashing through suspension.
The 2021/22 Serie A champions had made a solid start to the season prior to the weekend with three wins from three, having adapted well to the loss of Sandro Tonali – who has recovered from injury and is available – following his move to St James’s Park.
Pioli’s team have been predictably roasted by the Italian press since Saturday’s humbling loss and are under pressure to make a fast start to their European campaign.
Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven (Wednesday)
PSV romped into the group stages with a 5-1 win in the second leg of their play-off against Rangers, but it came off the back of a disappointing campaign last season under the now departed Ruud van Nistelrooy.
They were ultimately unable to recover from a poor first half of their Eredivisie season, despite beating eventual champions Feyenoord 4-3 in September and winning 2-1 at Ajax in November which saw them go top.
Form deserted them either side of the World Cup and though they largely righted things they were unable to keep pace with an astonishing 13-game winning run from Feyenoord from February onwards.
Van Nistelrooy walked out in May after winning the KNVB Cup citing a lack of management support amid a reported player revolt, and former Ajax and Borussia Dortmund boss Peter Bosz is the man now tasked with winning the club’s first title since 2018.
Bayern Munich v Manchester United (Wednesday)
Manchester United fans sang “we’ll see you next season” to transfer target Harry Kane when their team played at Tottenham in April but they had not expected it to be in the colours of Bayern Munich.
The England captain will be reuniting with an old foe from the country where he made his name sooner than he might have imagined and does so with four goals under his belt from his first four Bundesliga games for the champions.
Bayern are second in the league after conceding an equaliser in the fourth minute of added time against Bayer Leverkusen on Friday.
Thomas Tuchel won this competition with Chelsea in 2021 and the comprehensive manner in which Bayern were eliminated by Manchester City in last season’s quarter-final was a source of bitter personal disappointment.
Injured pair Kingsley Coman and Raphael Guerreiro are back in training ahead of the game against United, with the latter still yet to make an appearance since signing from Dortmund.
St. Jago, Eltham, STATHS and Wolmer’s through to Walker Cup final four
St. Jago High, Eltham High, STATHS and Wolmer’s Boys all advanced to the semi-finals of the Walker Cup knockout tournament after quarter-final wins on Thursday.
St. Jago booked their spot in the last four after a 3-2 win over Calabar High at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.
St. Jago took an early lead before Calabar equalized in the 45th minute through Kevaun Campbell. St. Jago retook the lead five minutes into the second half through Richardo Lewis before Seon Cato made it 3-1 in the 74th minute.
Calabar got a consolation goal through Sheldon Pusey eight minutes from full time but it wasn’t enough.
In the second game of the double header at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex, Wolmer’s Boys got the better of St. George’s College 2-1.
Elsewhere, STATHS got a comfortable 3-0 win over Charlie Smith at Calabar to advance while Eltham beat Jonathan Grant 3-1 at the Spanish Town Prison Oval to make it through.
Venezuela 1-1 Brazil: Super sub Segovia holds Selecao to shock draw
Substitute Telasco Segovia delivered the pivotal goal that saw 10-man Venezuela hold Brazil to a 1-1 draw in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying.
The shock result leaves Brazil in third place, trailing second-placed Colombia by two points and far short of Argentina in first.
Brazil opened the scoring just before half-time as Raphinha curled a delightful free-kick over the Venezuela wall from 20 yards out to break the deadlock.
On the other side of the break, however, half-time substitute Segovia equalised just 41 seconds after the restart, striking from outside the box, having run onto Jefferson Savarino’s short lay-off.
The visitors were provided with a prime opportunity to restore their lead when Rafael Romo fouled Vinicius Junior in the box. But the Real Madrid forward was unable to capitalise on the resulting penalty, seeing his initial effort saved before firing the rebound wide.
As tensions rose, the game delivered further drama as Alexander Gonzalez received his marching orders in the 89th minute for lashing out at Vinicius after fouling Gabriel Martinelli.
In a farcical ending to the lively affair, sprinklers popped up in the pitch in added time to delay proceedings, but neither side could find a way through.
Data Debrief: Instant impact for super sub Segovia
Segovia's goal, 41 seconds after coming on, is the fastest for a player coming off the bench in the last three editions of the South American World Cup Qualifiers.
Venezuela have now scored two goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half, only Brazil (four) and Colombia (four) have scored more in the 2026 CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers.
Kelleher repays Ireland trust in Finland victory
Republic of Ireland winger Mikey Johnston said the team had always trusted Caoimhin Kelleher after he made a crucial penalty save in their 1-0 Nations League win over Finland.
Johnston's corner set up Brighton and Hove Albion striker Evan Ferguson for the decisive goal on the stroke of half-time, after Finland had twice been denied by the woodwork.
The visitors had a golden chance to level in the second half, but Liverpool goalkeeper Kelleher made a stunning save to deny Joel Pohjanpalo from 12 yards following a handball from Ferguson.
The result means Finland are relegated from Group B2, while Ireland must come through a play-off to remain in the competition's second tier.
Speaking after the game, Johnston credited Kelleher's all-important penalty save, saying: "I always trust him to go and save a penalty. He has reacted really well and stepped up in a big moment.
"We were aiming for the win. They had moments but there were a few chances we could have taken as well.
"We're happy that we've come away with the win. Sometimes in the last year we would have been on the other side of a bit of bad luck."
Ireland round off their campaign against England on Sunday, in Lee Carsley's final game in charge of the Three Lions before Thomas Tuchel takes the reins in January.
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