Any mortal wounds suffered by English teams in the opening group phase of this season's Champions League will surely be self-inflicted. On the other hand a Scottish presence in the next round would be a bonus.

Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool were each handed negotiable routes past the first round when the draw was made in Monaco yesterday. But Celtic's lack of experience in this tournament will be fully tested by Juventus.

Liverpool, making their first appearance in the European Cup since 1985 and the Heysel disaster, look to have a trickier task than United or Arsenal.

Having won the UEFA Cup so dramatically, not to say quirkily, in the Ruhr last season they will return to the Westphalia stadium on September 19th to meet Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United's nemesis in the 1997 semi-finals and off to a flier in this season's Bundesliga.

Dortmund are clearly the side most likely to challenge Liverpool's top seeding in Group B. Matthias Sammer, new to coaching, made a big impact last season and with the Czech prodigy Tomas Rosicky in midfield to support his compatriot, Jan Koller, and the Brazilian Marcio Amoroso up front his team will ensure Liverpool a lively return to the senior European competition.

Both Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund will be wary of Boavista, the Portuguese champions and Anfield's first visitors, who look darker horses than Dynamo Kiev.

Liverpool's imperious 9-1 aggregate win over Haka in the qualifiers suggests GΘrard Houllier can be reasonably confident of going through, but maybe not as group winners.

Since winning the European Cup in stoppage time three seasons ago, Manchester United have marked time in the Champions League, quarter-final defeats by Real Madrid and Bayern Munich returning Alex Ferguson's team to the anteroom of glory.

Their presence in this season's second group phase looks reasonably assured, although here again English chances of winning the group will be threatened by a strong second seed, in this case Deportivo La Coruna whom United play in quick succession on September 25th and October 17th.

United's wonky defence could be in for a torrid time against Diego Tristan and Roy Makaay, who between them scored 35 Spanish League goals last season.

In April, Leeds United beat Deportivo at Elland Road in the Champions League quarter-finals. Manchester United will do well to emulate them.

Olympiakos, narrowly edged out by Lyon in last season's first phase, will turn over any opponents who are having an off day.

Little Lille, however, could be the ones to watch in Group G with their tightly organised defence and ability to strike quickly on the break.

While only Leeds of England's three quarter-finalists reached the semi-finals last time, Arsenal did at least break new ground by getting to the knockout stage.

With Sol Campbell's England experience added to the defence, ArsΦne Wenger will be bitterly disappointed if his side fails to capitalise on that progress.

Real Mallorca ought to provide Arsenal with fewer problems than did Valencia, their conquerors in the knockout stage, and a bigger threat could come from the third seeds in Group C, Schalke 04, who come to Highbury on September 19th. The Gelsenkirchen team lost the German title on the final day and have so far struggled in their early matches.

Yet, they still possess awesome scoring potential in Denmark's Ebbe Sand and the Belgian Emile Mpenza, while Andy M÷ller is no less of a creative influence than he once was for the German national side. Panathinaikos, too, could pose Arsenal problems, having reached the second round last season.

Broadly speaking, the fascination of this Champions League will lie in seeing whether the Italian clubs can reassert their presence after last season's total eclipse.

Part of the question may be answered in Group A of the first round, where Roma, the Serie A champions, will face Real Madrid on September 11th.

As for Juventus, they have a choice of banana skins . . . Porto, Rosenborg and, not least, Celtic who if they repeat the form which brought them such an impressive 3-1 victory over Ajax in Amsterdam in the qualifiers are well capable of causing upsets.

Celtic are in Turin on September 18th and if Martin O'Neill's team reach the second round any English survivors will be more anxious than ever to stay clear of Parkhead and Henrik Larsson.

With such strength of travelling support behind them, all things are possible where the Bhoys are concerned, however multilingual they may now be.

GROUP A

Real Madrid

Roma

Lok Moscow

Anderlecht

GROUP B

Bor Dortmund

Liverpool

Dynamo Kiev

Boavista

GROUP C

Arsenal

Real Mallorca

Schalke

Panathinaikos

GROUP D

Lazio

Galatasaray

PSV Eindhoven

Nantes

GROUP E

Juventus

Porto

Rosenborg

Celtic

GROUP F

Barcelona

Lyon

Bayer Leverkusen

Fenerbahce

GROUP G

Manchester Utd

Dep La Coruna

Olympiakos

Lille

GROUP H

Bayern Munich

Spartak Moscow

Feyenoord

Sparta Prague