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Champions League kicks off

Thirty-two of Europe`s best teams begin their road to the coveted 2006/7 UEFA Champions League crown. Barcelona, in its quest to repeat its championship run of last year, will present its foes with a difficult task. Fans worldwide are eager to watch the Catalan unit, coached by Frank Rijkaard and led by Brazilian star Ronaldinho and other big guns, when they kickoff on its quest on Tuesday in the opener against visiting Levski Sofia.

The Group A match-ups will summon Barcelona with difficult competition next month, when they meet Chelsea, one of four English clubs competing. Jos? Mourinho`s club has acquired new players over the summer ? world-caliber stars, as could be expected from the club owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich. "We want to win it - but so do all the others,` Mourinho said. "When you speak about the players Chelsea bought, I think it`s correct to say Chelsea should be stronger and should be contenders," he added.

Mourinho predicts some 10 clubs are realistic contenders for the Champions League, Chelsea one of them. Notably missing from the competition is Italian club Juventus, who have been hardest hit by the match-fixing scandal in Italy. Meanwhile, AC Milan have been allowed take part in this season`s Champions League despite being found guilty in the match-fixing scandal in the Italian Serie A.