⛅️ Champions League forecast: Delight in Dortmund and Atalanta's debut | OneFootball

At long last Champions League football is back for our viewing pleasure in 2019/20.

It feels like an age since Divock Origi netted in Madrid to wrap up a routine win for Liverpool last season’s the all-English final.

But that is old news now as we look ahead to what is exciting us about matchday one …

Game of the week

Borussia Dortmund v Barcelona

What a game this promises to be at the Westfalenstadion on Wednesday night.

Two of Europe’s best attacking sides do battle in a mouth-watering early showdown for Group F supremacy.

Lionel Messi is a major doubt despite returning to training and Ousmane Dembélé isn’t fit to face his former club.

But Paco Alcácer will be on the pitch against his old team and he’ll be fired up for it if his pre-game comments are anything to go by.

Barcelona’s attack has been boosted though by the return of Luis Suárez and he’ll be out to end his horror run on the road, having failed to find the net in an away Champions League fixture since Rome in September 2015.

We also have the added excitement of watching teenage sensations Jadon Sancho and Ansu Fati go at it.

Incredibly given their continental pedigree, these sides have also never met in this competition before.

Potential upset

Olympiacos v Tottenham

There is every chance last season’s runners-up could be on the wrong end of a Greek tragedy to start the campaign.

They were slow out of the box last year, beginning with one point from their opening three games before rebounding to qualify.

It has also been an inconsistent start to the domestic season for Spurs, although they did produce their best performance of the season in a 4-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.

That could see them caught napping in Piraeus, against an Olympiacos outfit who will be buoyed by their recent exploits.

Pedro Martins’s side sailed through the qualification rounds and their early league action, winning eight games of nine (they drew the other), scoring 20 goals and conceding just one.

In addition, they are unbeaten in their last 17 games, having last tasted defeat in February.

Easiest three points

Inter v Slavia

This may not be four or five-goal margin of victory easy for Inter, but this should be a comfortable success against Slavia.

Even if Antonio Conte’s men don’t rack up the goals at San Siro, they simply have too much quality and firepower.

The Prague outfit have lost on each of their six visits to Italy and that will likely become seven against a Nerazzurri team who have started the season well.

They have won each Serie A game under their new tactician and their attackers are in ominous form too.

Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martínez have started the campaign in impressive fashion for both club and country.

We can’t see anything other than a routine home win.

Keep an eye out for

Atalanta’s debut

The fairytale continues at Atalanta, who are the only side making their Champions League group stage debut this season.

Against all the odds, the Bergamo side who have been a yo-yo club between divisions for much of their history achieved their highest-ever finish last year.

Their reward is a taste of Europe’s premier club competition, even if they can’t play in their Atleti Azzurri d’Italia home.

But that isn’t something to worry about for now as they make their bow in Zagreb, where they take on Dinamo in a very winnable opener.

The Croatians have lost their last 11 successive games in this competition and La Dea have the quality to extend that run.

Papu Gomez and Duván Zapata are the ultimate attacking little-and-large partnership, while Luis Muriel has hit the ground running in Lombardy.