When the draw was made ahead of our return to the Champions League, two fixtures stood out: our upcoming home game against Barcelona, and the much-anticipated return to Paris to take on the defending champions PSG

Our first foray in the competition under its new ‘League Phase’ format, there’s an extra two games for us to factor into our already packed schedule for the season ahead.

And that means we’ve got some of Europe’s most underrated sides to prepare for, as we look to avoid another frustrating campaign like we had back in the 23/24 season with the Group of Death containing Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan and the aforementioned PSG.

We’ve got our first glimpses of some of our opponents on the opening night of the competition, and there’s some early signs of some favourable looking fixtures ahead for us as well as tough tests to come…

Union Saint-Gilloise shine against PSV – One to watch?

Our first away day of this season’s competition will see us travel to Belgium to take on tournament debutants Union Saint-Gilloise, which could be a much tougher fixture than it looks on paper.

Like us, the reigning Belgian champions are in only Pot 4 purely off their previous European experience, as they’ve rapidly ascended to become one of the top sides in the Benelux region.

They took a big scalp on match day one with a convincing 3-1 away win against PSV Eindhoven, dispatching one of the surprise packages from last season’s competition with relative ease.

The highlight of the night came when Anouar Ait El Hadj put the Belgians 2-0 up before half time with a sensational solo goal. PSV looked better in the second half, but failed to capitalise on any of their chances, with Van Bommel netting a consolation goal in the dying minutes to make it 3-1.

The Dutch side are, of course, one of the four teams we’re set to welcome to St James’ Park later in the competition. So where we can expect a tough trip to Brussels, the first signs are that we should be overwhelming favourites for all three points when Peter Bosz’ side comes to town.

Benfica shock and bad results for Bilbao and Marseille

The other Pot 4 team we’re set to play, Spanish stalwarts Athletic Bilbao, never really got going in their turgid tie against Arsenal, as goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard were enough to give the Gunners all three points.

Benfica, one of the toughest teams we’re set to face in the league phase after Barcelona and PSG, suffered a shock defeat against minnows Qarabag, throwing away a 2-0 lead at home to lose 3-2 in a shock defeat for the Portuguese giants.

And Marseille may have went ahead against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, but a pair of Kylian Mbappe penalties, the second far more contentious than the other, gave Xabi Alonso’s side the comeback win in a 2-1 win for Real.

Outside of the games featuring our future opponents, a former Mag in Lloyd Kelly made big headlines with his performance against Dortmund. Giving away a penalty to make it 4-2 to Dortmund, the defender popped up with a last minute equaliser in stoppage time to help Juventus complete a miraculous comeback as it ended 4-4 in Turin!