Defending champion Manchester United begins Champions League play on Wednesday as group stage play gets underway. United faces Villarreal on Wednesday and it is possible that Cristiano Ronaldo will make his return to the team for that match. Ronaldo has missed the start of the Soccer betting Premier League season as he recovers from ankle surgery. Ronaldo had 42 goals in all competitions last season and his return will be a welcome sight for United. The team lost to Liverpool in league play for the first time in seven years over the weekend without Ronaldo. "You have to recover, that's the name of the game," manager Alex Ferguson said, "It's the Champions League and I think we are in a good group and I think we have a good chance of qualifying." Villarreal will probably be without striker Giuseppe Rossi who has missed games with a sprained ankle. Manchester United is in Group E which includes Villarreal, a Celtic team from Glasgow and Danish side Aalborg.
"The way I look at the Champions League is to get to 10 points," Ferguson said. "If you get that you know you have qualified and you can look forward to February when it really starts to kick-in."
Champions League runner-up Chelsea begins play on Tuesday as they face Bordeaux. Chelsea is in Group A which includes AS Roma, Bordeaux and Romanian Champions League newcomers CFR Clujnapoca. "For me, the Champions League is not more important than the Carling Cup," said Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, "It is important but it is not more important than a league game. We need to think game by game. If I say the Champions League is the most important then my players will ask why they need to bother in the other games."
Liverpool is also very much in the Champions League hunt this season. Liverpool starts in Marseille and striker Fernando Torres is questionable.
"I am not reassured when I see how Liverpool played against Manchester," Marseille coach Eric Gerets said. "That was impressive."
Barcelona is hosting Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday and is in desperate search of a victory. They have had the worst start to a season since 1973. Real Madrid has not made it past the group stage in the past four years so the pressure is on them. Another interesting match has the soccer betting UEFA Cup winner Zenit St. Petersburg traveling to Juventus, which is back in Europe after missing two years due to the match fixing scandal.
