Our campaign begins with a massive encounter, as two clubs with eight Champions League titles between them go head to head at the Allianz Arena, scene of our very first triumph in this competition back in 2012, when we defeated Bayern Munich in a penalty shootout in the final.

It is the same opponents we face in Bavaria on Wednesday evening when we kick off our 2025/26 campaign in Europe, but our head coach insists he won't be getting ahead of himself, sticking strictly to his approach of just taking one game at a time, regardless of the setting, especially in this top-tier tournament.

‘First of all, you know since last season, I always like to go game by game,' explained Maresca. 'You cannot think about the final or semi-final if you can’t win games in the group stage.

'Tomorrow we have the first one against a fantastic team, one of the three or four favourites in this competition, but we are going to try to do our job in the best way.’

Furthermore, Maresca is well aware of just how strong the opposition will be on Wednesday evening, when we take on the champions of Germany on their own turf.

Bayern reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season, before being eliminated by eventual finalists Inter Milan, and made it to the same stage of the FIFA Club World Cup in the summer, where they were knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain, who Chelsea beat in the final.

‘I think Bayern Munich is a team that showed last year that they are very close and they can compete to win this competition. This is my view,' he added.

'I see them together with three or four more clubs as one of the favourites for this competition.’