It’s all about the Champions League today, which today begins its 14th year as Europe’s most important tournament. Defending champion Barcelona is among the teams that open the competition today, along with 2005 winner Liverpool, English Champion Chelsea and Serie A Champion Inter Milan. The Independent points out that no team in the competition’s short history has managed to win the trophy two years in a row. But Barca coach Frank Rijkaard knows something about defying those odds, as he was the scorer of the goal which enabled AC Milan to defeat Benfica to secure a back-to-back win for his side when the competition was known as the European Cup. To be sure, the competition is both bigger and longer now, spanning nine months and several top clubs from each of Europe’s biggest leagues. It used to be that the big four (England, Italy, Spain and Germany) entered just one club apiece; this season, each will send 15 to the 32-club competition. Barcelona was the deserved winner last season, beating the likes of Werder Bremen, Udinese, Panathinaikos, Chelsea, Benfica, Milan and Arsenal en route to the title. It will be even tougher for them to repeat this season, as several of Europe’s top clubs have done some serious bulking up in the off-season. Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho reckons that any one of 10 clubs could win it. The Independent says a few of these, like Chelsea, Real Madrid and AC Milan, may even be more focused on winning the Champions League than their domestic league this season.