Real out to break holders' jinx in 60th European Cup

To be fair, the old Manchester United manager did make this observation long before the exhilarating 2014 edition of the World Cup restored most football folk's faith in the sport's premier event.So now it is time for UEFA's ever more unstoppable juggernaut of an event to re-establish its bragging rights as the 60th edition of the European Cup competition - and the 23rd in its Champions League guise - kicks off this week with its first set of group matches on the long road to a climax at Berlin's Olympiastadion next June.The Champions League's paymasters can ask again who cares about the World Cup when hundreds of millions are able to see Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and company strut the dandiest stages of European club football week in, week out over the next 10 months?The competition, which was worth 57.4 million euros (£46.6 million) in prize money to last season's champions, has mushroomed into an unrecognisable phenomenon and veritable cash cow from the inaugural 29-game, 16-team tournament of 1955-1956 which made an intriguing bow with no television or sponsorship nor, indeed, sniffy Englishmen.Some things never change, though.Just as the Cup's first edition in 1956 was won by Real Madrid, so the Spanish aristocrats begin tournament number 60 as holders and warm favourites, even after their underwhelming start to the La Liga campaign.Even without AC Milan and Manchester United, 10-times winners between them, in this year's draw, there is predictability to what will eventuate.It is no coincidence that the four favourites this season - Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Chelsea - are also the last four heavyweight winners of the trophy.The last genuine surprise winners? Jose Mourinho's Porto in 2004, 18 of the last 19 winners having come from one of the continent's big four leagues - La Liga, Bundesliga, Premier League and Serie A. The Champions League is not big on fairytales.Here is another predictable prediction. Carlo Ancelotti can claim that his Real Madrid squad "is stronger than it was last year" - a highly debatable assertion without Xabi Alonso and Angel di Maria offering their excellent balance - but they will not defend their title.Why? Modern Champions League lore dictates that the winner never repeats, that the pressure is too much. You have to go back to Arrigo Sacchi's Milan in 1990, three years before the inaugural Champions League final, to find the last back-to back European champions.More than that, no champions since then have ever been succeeded by a club from their own country.So Barcelona, with their own set of striking Galacticos - Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez - and last year's beaten finalists Atletico Madrid, still hewn from Diego Simeone's inspirational one-for-all image, have their work cut out.(uk.eurosport.yahoo.com)Bakudaily.Az