Champions League expert picks, predictions, best bets: Milan face Liverpool; Real Madrid look for hot start

Here's our expert picks for the upcoming UCL matchday

The UEFA Champions League officially makes a much-anticipated return on Tuesday, but this season's competition will not be like the ones that came before it.

The switch to the Swiss-system format adds more teams, more games and more days of competition to the schedule, all with the hopes of increasing the competitiveness as early as the league phase, which replaces the group stage. In terms of fixtures alone, Matchday 1 lives up to the billing with a handful of exciting games to kick off the competition. Liverpool's trip to AC Milan headlines the first day of action on Tuesday, while Kylian Mbappe is set to make his Champions League debut in a Real Madrid shirt the same day as they host Stuttgart.

English and Italian champions Manchester City and Inter face off on Wednesday, and the Champions League action continues on Thursday with Arsenal traveling to Europa League champions Atalanta and Bundesliga winners Bayer Leverkusen return to the competition with a trip to Feyenoord.