UEFA restarts both the Champions League and Europa League this week, with the Europa League resuming tonight and the Champions League on Friday evening.

Fans will will be able to enjoy all the games live across BT Sport. For those of us who upgraded our TV package during lockdown we will be reaping the benefits… I know I am!

Okay so the football calendar is well and truly jumbled up these days  and it could take several years  for all formats of the game to get back in sync with each other.

How will it work?

The new calendar does pose some difficult challenges ahead. Teams still competing in this season’s tournaments, whoes leagues did not resume after being suspended in March will struggle with match fitness and sharpness.

Teams from France, Holland and Scotland will see the biggest drop off in player performance as their respective leagues were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Champions League is set to take place in Lisbon Portugal, with a series of one off games from the quarter finals onwards.

However Manchester City v Real Madrid and Juventus v Lyon will take place as home fixtures as they look to complete their second leg ties.

In the Europa League the format is similar with all quarter finals, semi- finals and the final itself being staged across four stadiums in Germany.

The round of 16 is set to be completed this week and will take place as normal with clubs playing home and away. With exception of Roma v Getafe and Sevilla v Inter Milan whoes matches will be one off games, also played in Germany as their first legs were cancelled earlier this year.

Who gains and who loses…

Mancheater United have been playing well since the restart of football, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side picking up 21 ponts out of 27 available.

The Red Devils will be looking for a Quarter-final berth as they face Austrian side LASK, leading 5-0 from the first leg.

LASK will also benefit from a run of games through June and July in The Austrian Bundesliga although their chances look slim…

The teams who will suffer the most will be those whose leagues did not resume, most notably Rangers and PSG whose leagues where cancelled by their respective football associations.

The lack of competitive games will likely damage their chances of progressing as both teams look to overturn deficits from the first legs.

PSG take on Italian underdogs Atalanta the Italians having suprised everyone by scoring 98 goals in this season’s Serie A setting a new league record in the process.

Rangers have the toughest challenge as they head out to Germany to take on Bayer Leverkusen at the Bay Arena.

The Germans have had inconsistant results since the Bundesliga resumed in early June and Rangers will be facing a tough challenge as they still lack the match fitness that Leverkusen have been able to build up in recent matches.

Who are the favourites…

Bayern Munich and Mancheater City have looked phenomenal in recent weeks and I just can’t see past either of these two for the Champions League.

PSG looked on course to go deep into the tournament pre-lockdown, however the lack of fitness and match practice along with being behind from the first leg with Atalanta looks like a step too far this season.

The Europa League is up for grabs this year…

Manchester United, Inter Milan, Eintract Frankfurt and Wolverhampton Wonderers are my favourites for Europe’s second tier competition.

The two English sides are both in good form and will look to carry that momentum into their European fixtures this week.

Antonio Conte’s Inter have looked better in recent weeks and have a really strong squad. Inter finished strongly as they finished just one point behind eventual champions Juventus.

Then we have the outsider… Eintract Frankfurt have performed extremely well in the Europa League this year and have been flying in the closing weeks of the German Bundesliga, second only to the mighty Bayern Munich in the form table.

We should not discount Shaktar Donetsk, Roma or Europa League specialists Sevilla, who have won the competition 5 times in recent years!

As the games kick off tonight we will all be glued to our TV sets… some of us hoping while others dream of glory.

Written by Andy Jones