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Again it looks as though I’ll be up in the stupidly early hours to watch some sport as the UEFA Champions League is on again this week, with some huge Group Stage fixtures.

Manchester United V AS Roma

On Tuesday night (early Wednesday morning for us in Australia), we’ll see a repeat of the fixture which saw Alex Fergusen’s Man United thrash AS Roma 7-1 in last years UEFA Champions League.

The UK Premier League Champions have had a fairly so-so start to their league campaign, by last years high standards – though they historically get busy in the latter stage of the season – so will be looking to continue their good start to their Champions League Group campaign.

The world witnessed Roma’s capitulation in last year’s quarter final, as they lost to United 7-1 on their home turf (and 8-3 on aggregate) – make no mistake, Roma will feel they have a score to settle!

With this game at Old Trafford, I’d expect a close fought match. Prediction: 2-1 to United, though honours may well be even.

Liverpool V Marseille

The next day sees Liverpool take on last years French league runners up Marseille.

Liverpool have spent heavily since last year’s Champions League, while Marseille continued their recent tradition of off-loading great players to high spending clubs – most notably losing Frank Ribery to Bayern Munich.

Ribery will be sorely missed by Marseille and they may well struggle to cope with Liverpool’s strong midfield and attacking line-up. Prediction: 2-0 to Liverpool.

The above matches are shown in Australia on SBS at around 4am. Start your day early with a great football match! I’m off to get an early night on board.

Other UEFA Champions League fixtures of note this week

Tuesday 2 October:

Stuttgart V Barcelona; Inter V PSV; Steaua V Arsenal

Wednesday 3 October:

Valencia V Chelsea; Lazio V Real Madrid; Celtic V Milan