Battle royal begins in the League of Champions

Questions marks remain over the defensive capabilities of Madrid, particularly after they sold tough-tackling, defensive midfielder Claude Makelele to Chelsea two week ago. English Premiership side Chelsea, who took their spending to over œ111 million ($177 million) after being bankrolled by Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich, are also in action.

Real Madrid host Marseille, AC Milan entertain Ajax, Chelsea visit Sparta Prague and Manchester United play at home to the Greeks of Panathinaikos in the pick of the day’s ties.

Real have not signed a replacement for Makelele, whose absence in the second leg of last season’s semi-final against Juventus played a decisive role in the Italian club’s victory. The resilience of Fernando Hierro, who was let go by the club, will also be missed. President Florentino Perez might say players such as Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, David Beckham, Raul and Roberto Carlos would make up for a shaky backline as long as they score lots of goals.

Certainly Madrid’s stars warmed up for midweek action in goal-scoring style on Saturday with a 7-2 blitzing of Real Valladolid.

AC Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti, whose side have won both of their Italian League matches to date, would surely disagree and assert the need for defensive rigour. Ancelotti’s purchase of veteran Brazil international defender Cafu from Roma to add to Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta and rugged defensive midfielder Gennaro Gatusso shows his insistance on a solid backline.

Added to that the buying of attacking midfielder Kaka from Sao Paulo, just 21 but who proved his pedigree by scoring in Brazil’s World Cup victory over Colombia last weekend, Milan’s chances in the world’s most prestigious club competition must surely be boosted.

Chelsea’s new purchases meanwhile are an unknown quantity at the highest level and coach Claudio Ranieri is demanding they combine as a team. “I have built Chelsea for three years,” Ranieri said.

“Now we are born again, and we must build to be like Real Madrid, the Italians and Bayern Munich, for sooner or later one of them arrives at the Champions League final. Chelsea have fanstastic players, but we must work to be a team like those clubs.”

Makelele apart, Chelsea’s main buys were Cameroon’s Geremi from Real Madrid, Damien Duff from Blackburn, Argentina’s Juan Sebastian Veron from Manchester United, Joe Cole from West Ham, Adrian Mutu of Romania from Parma and Inter Milan’s Argentinian Hernan Crespo. Chelsea should not have too much trouble in the Czech capital but European losses to Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv and Switzerland’s St Gallen in recent seasons should prevent over confidence.