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The Great football is back - the new, already 56th season of the UEFA Champions League starts on Tuesday.
As usual, 32 teams will participate in the main tournament, divided into eight groups. The winners and runners-up of the groups will advance to the quarter-finals, while the teams finishing in third place will drop down to the Europa League, where the battles will continue from the round of sixteen barrier.
The group stage, featuring as many as 6 debutant clubs - "Bursaspor", Tel Aviv's "Hapoel", "Braga", London's "Tottenham", "Twente", and "Zilina" - will end on December 7-8, with the knockout matches starting after the winter break on February 15-16.
The tournament final will be held at London's "Wembley" stadium on May 28, 2011.
The Italian champions Milan "Inter" will defend their title, but according to bookmakers, the favorites to win trophies are other teams - the Spanish giants Real Madrid, Barcelona, and English football leaders Chelsea and Man Utd.
This season in the Champions League, the main field referee will be assisted not only by two linesmen, but also by two additional referees standing behind the goal lines. UEFA continues the experiment with the five-official system hoping to reduce the number of incorrect decisions made by referees.
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