I had decided that Barcelona were going to be my pick to win the Champions League this season after watching Hansi Flick’s side in the semi-finals of the competition last year against Inter Milan.

Barcelona somehow lost that tie despite being the more impressive side across the two legs; their defensive lapses in concentration let them down, but I don’t think that will be the case this season.

I also think the goalkeeper let them down at times last season. They’ve brought in Joan Garcia to address this issue, who has shown really positive signs in the Barcelona net across the early parts of the season.

Barcelona have the most deadly attacking options across Europe. Raphinha and Yamal were already a frightening duo, but they’ve added Rashford to that setup to support Lewandowski up front, who can still score the goals required to take Barcelona deep into the competition.

Hansi Flick’s side dominated La Liga last season, winning the league by scoring 102 goals across their 38 matches (2.68 per game).

Not many sides can match this scoring power, which should prove crucial in those tight games against more stubborn opposition. Real Madrid, the next highest scorers in the Spanish top flight last season, netted 24 goals fewer than Barcelona, as they finished four points adrift of top spot.

Barcelona have a tough start to the league phase, but this gets lighter as the competition unravels. Their main tests will be against Newcastle, PSG, and Chelsea in the early stages of the competition. I’d expect them to navigate the league phase with relative ease, before being a side you would like to avoid in the knockout stages.

This is the first time in a few seasons that Madrid aren’t amongst the favourites for this competition, with the likes of Liverpool, PSG, and Barcelona all fancied ahead of Xabi Alonso’s side this time around.

I understand why Real Madrid have been priced like this, it could end up being a bit of a transitional season with new signings bedding in and a new manager at the helm, but Madrid aren’t a ‘project’ side, there is always an expectation to win now - especially in the Champions League.

Real Madrid are the most successful side in the history of the competition, so you can never discount them. The main issue that Madrid had last season was a lack of attacking direction under Carlo Ancelotti.

The players were almost ‘too free’ if that makes sense, they didn’t have the right instructions, which eventually led to Madrid simply lumping the ball into Arsenal’s box in their defeat at the quarter-final stage of this competition last season.

Xabi Alonso should be able to set up the side in a more effective manner to break down sides that may look to set up in a low block against them. Madrid’s main tests in the league phase of the competition are Man City, Liverpool, and a Madrid Derby. Even with these games, I back Los Blancos to finish in the top eight of the league phase to progress automatically to the knockout rounds of the competition, and hopefully reach the semis.

My outsider for last season was Inter Milan at 26.0 to win the Champions League. I was gutted when they got to the final and got blitzed by a PSG side who were, in fairness, the best side in the competition, but it has tempted me to go with another slight outsider to progress deep in the tournament.

The ‘Champions of the World’ tag seems a bit cheap to describe Chelsea, considering that the champions of England, Italy, and Spain weren’t in the competition, but it’s a victory that Chelsea can look to build on in this competition, similar to their triumph in the Conference League, which was widely expected.

Chelsea are a side you can always expect to be in the running for some form of silverware come the end of the season. Enzo Maresca walked away from his first year as Blues boss with two trophies. There aren’t many other clubs as magnetic to success as Chelsea, regardless of the era or the director at the helm.

Admittedly, these are not the trophies that Chelsea will really be seeking. I still maintain the position that Chelsea can rival Liverpool and Arsenal for the league title this season, but failing that, Chelsea could be set for a deep run in the Champions League.

I think Enzo Maresca is a really good manager for knockout games. You saw this at the Club World Cup. Chelsea adopted a different style and system in every round of the competition, eventually culminating in the best performance I’ve seen from Chelsea under Maresca, as they dispatched PSG in the final.

Chelsea showed in that moment that they can go toe-to-toe with the best sides in Europe, and I think we’ll see moments like that throughout the campaign.