Pep sure to relish Barcelona battle

This looks set to be a fascinating duel between Barcelona and Manchester City for top spot as Pep Guardiola returns to the Catalan capital in a head-to-head between two sides determined to win the Champions League.

Topping the group could be crucial to those dreams and, while Barcelona, with the might of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez as a front three, deserve to be considered odds-on favourites it could be close between them and City for first place.

However, the best bet is to stick with the two in a dual forecast because both teams should be seriously too good for Borussia Monchengladbach and Celtic.

Gladbach are a nice side to watch but defensively they seem sure to suffer, particularly on the road where they conceded 32 goals last term in the Bundesliga, the same tally as bottom club Hannover.

Coach Andre Schubert has attempted to rectify the issue by switching to a back three over the summer but the old issues came back to haunt in Saturday’s 3-1 reverse at Freiburg.

Celtic have quickly taken a firm hold of the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership following their 5-1 victory over Rangers on Saturday but this is an entirely different level.

The Bhoys’ rearguard has already been breached seven times in six qualifying matches, a run which includes European away defeats to Lincoln Red Imps and Hapoel Beer-Sheva.

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See Group D