I'm going to have to go now. Thanks for your questions, even the crap ones, and sorry I didn't get to answer them all. Have a good Champions League group stage. After a non-tournament summer I'm looking forward to it even more than usual. Goodbye. Barney

I think they have a good chance. Marseille won't scare them and Arsenal always have an amazingly fine European away performance in them somewhere. They usually produce it from behind Barcelona/Bayern's ear like a magical hard boiled egg.

Bayern, Barca, Chelsea, Juve.

Or failing that Bayern, Barca, [insert other team here], [plus someone else too]

I'd have them ahead of City personally, but yes no doubt it's to do with Moyes and the failure to get a load of new players in. If City win it this year I'd be amazed. I'm not sure they're planning it that way with Pellegrini in any case.

I think Chelsea will do well, reach the semis or the final. The rest of them will probably not.

I'd keep an eye on CSKA. They have one or two excellent players. Alan Dzagoev is great. Igor Akinfeev is a brilliant goalkeeper. And Moscow is never an easy place to go unless you fly direct by any major air carrier and make adequate hotel reservations in advance. Steaua Bucharest probably not so much, although I still kind of love them for beating Barcelona on pens in that final and thoroughly ruining quite a few scripts. the rest, I've no idea really. Except that Celtic will do something brave-looking for about 30 minutes at home and then lose.

By coincidence I am also Germanic, arrogant, very rich and mainly bright red

Maybe a bit of the post-wrath. But also Moyes hasn't taken the opportunity to butter anybody up, keeping the same slightly friece distance, which is entirely his business of course and good luck to him. But it might have been wise to court some good opinion a little more obviously. Sad but true I'm afraid. The great thing for Moyes now is nothing really matters except winning a few games. change can often be good. Who knows, maybe Fergie had got in a bit of defensive rut in Europe. It's going to be fascinating to see what if anything he changes.

He's already told him to stop diving (it's OK: Alex did too) so I'd guess not. I'd much prefer Kagawa or Januzaj with a bit of Zaha off the bench. Ashley Young shouldn't have left Villa. He was an excellent player there and maybe would have got better. Not sure what the last few years have done for him.

Chelsea buffet. Second to none. Seafood platter. Roast. Fruit selection. And real custard.

Plus, er, it's a fascinating clash

He's great isn't he? Almost Ross Barkley-esque at times.

No. I'm his Kagawa. He toys with me ruthlessly.

No. Throwing money at it is not the answer. Everybody chucks money about these days. Most of those clubs who made it to the final and semis had - oddly enough - at least five english or home grown players in them, and this high quality home-reared core most people seem to acknowledge is the key. It's hard. But I think that's the way to improve.

I'm not very often in the office so not very often on the pod.
No, I don;t think he has enough experience - because he has no experience at all bar one unsuccessful almost-there with Everton. It is a massive gamble to appoint him if United, as they do, still have hopes of winning the CL. But that doesn't mean it;s not a good appointment. I'm all for giving people a chance rather than sticking with the usual cartel of established-name types, which is something English football does too much of. Having said that whether he has the tactical cuteness to outwit an experienced European manager the way Mourinho put the boot so expertly into Ferguson at Old Trafford last season is an unanswerable question until it happens

I still think Shakhtar are quite literally the banana skin in that group. Leverkusen should be deal-able with. And Real Socieded I'm not really sure about. They've survived both relegation Chris Coleman to come back and finish fourth last year. They've now got a 35-year-old manager and loads of young players who've come through the youth team. But ten years out of the competition is a long time. They will, at the very least, be fascinating to watch.

Re: YEEEAAHHH. I agree. As someone who is constitutionally inclined to complain about anything overly hyped, overly hierarchical and bascially invented for TV, I find the Champions League deeply confusing. Its just too good. I like it too much. Unconditional excitement about top level football - it's a very strange and uncomfortable feeling

On football weekly the other day Michael Cox suggested Juventus as proper maybe-win-it dark horses and at the time I scoffed, remembering how completely they were overrun by Bayern. But looking back, and annoyingly, I may have been wrong. If it comes to actually winning it as an outside bet, they might be the best shot. Carlos Tevez is a really good signing, just what they needed. Vidal looks like he's still Vidal. Antonio Conte has a more forbidding visage with every passing year. Andrea Pirlo is still only 28. They will fancy it.

I think Chelsea have a really good chance. they have a manager and a squad that looks totally geared up for it, and they keep the ball as well as most teams. But really I just think it's going to be Bayern again. They're not finished with us. Their mini-era is still in its infancy. And let;s face it they were absolutely miles ahead of everyone else (except characteristically fearless pre-beaten Arsenal) in the knock out last year.

That is a very interesting one isn't it. They were sensational in the 6-2 against Hamburg and it seems likely Aubameyang's extreme pace will give them another angle of attack. Reus is just a wonderful player and should be even better this year. We tend to obsess about renewal these days but there is no reason why a team shouldn't simply become better with another year and with a manager who now has a CL final under his belt and can now perhaps cast off the stultifying inhibition of his appearances in public last year and finally express himself a little bit. That's meant to be a joke.

They're not doing too badly so far and are my own tip to, well, do something or other. As I typed that the words "reach the final" suddenly looked ridiculous. But they are a great club with a brilliant support who seem to have done quite well adjusting to losing 100m Euros of player. I you look at their squad now it's bascaclly ten Brazilians, a load of Ukrainians and Dario Srna. What's not to like there. They will win at home as usual but getting more than a point away has been hard. Great manager. And never an easy place to go, unless you're at the Shaktar Plaza, in which case it's a very nice place to go, as long as you don't leave two quite new jackets hanging in your room when you check out. But that's another story.

Hello everybody. Welcome to the webchat.

I agree this is an interesting issue. It also seems likely it's going to be a confusing and transitional season for hipster notions of what is an isn't acceptable (and yes no doubt the word hipster is also unpardonably gauche by now). There is a lot of co-opting going on out there. Barcelona have obviously gone. Possibly it's still OK to go on about Dortmund and Klopp, given the refusal to move on, sell off the team and the rest of it. I agree any Basque team automatically has a certain glaze of one-upmanship about it. They're so... brave and true and simple. And I also agree with the poster above about Napoli, who have always had a certain something and now have a nice blend of technocrat manager and some excellent players, might be the source of a lot of contended beard-stroking. Personally though I'm plumping for CSKA Moscow, just because I read somewhere their manager Leonid Slutsky had to retire from playing after falling out of a tree rescuing a cat. The man is a hero.