It may look like one of the great mis-matches of Champions Lea-gue history, but Real Madrid, who won their 10th European Cup last May, cannot afford to underestimate Ludogorets from the tiny Bulgarian town of Razgrad on matchday two tomorrow.

Football is slowly coming to accept that a team who might once have been regarded as amateur actors bumping into furniture on the European stage have the potential to be significant performers.

They may still have been a little-known third division club only five years ago but progress since being taken over in 2010 by Kiril Domuschiev, one of the richest men in Bulgaria, has been spectacular.

Some observers still feared for them after being thrown into a daunting looking Group B with Real Madrid, Liverpool and Basel.

Yet in the opening game at Anfield two weeks ago they were robbed of a draw against the five-time winners only through conceding an unnecessary last-minute penalty converted by Steven Gerrard.

As in the Europa League last season, coach Georgi Dermend-zhiev’s side are playing home games at the national stadium in Sofia, some 275kms away, be-cause of the inadequacies of their own 8,000-capacity ground.

That has hardly proved a handicap so far, Valencia’s 4-0 success there being the only home defeat in seven European games over the last two campaigns.

Dermendzhiev did admit, however, that his team played “poorly” in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat away to Levski Sofia.

Real, meanwhile, were comfortable 2-0 winners at Villarreal, continuing their improvement after a slow start in La Liga.

The holders started their Group B programme by thrashing Basel 5-1, which means the Swiss side need to take something from Liverpool’s visit, which is also tomorrow.

They will hope to profit from Liverpool’s inconsistency, which continued in dropping two late points in a 1-1 draw at home to their big local rivals Everton on Saturday.

Atletico Madrid, beaten by their neighbours in last season’s Lisbon final, lost their opening game 3-2 away to Olympiakos Piraeus and now face another tough tie tomorrow at home to Juventus.

Juventus top both Serie A, with a 100 per cent record from five games, and Champions League Group A, Carlos Tevez having scored twice in their 2-0 win against Malmo.

Barcelona remain La Liga leaders with a remarkable record going into their Group F tie against Paris St Germain tonight.

They have scored 17 goals and conceded none after a 6-0 success at home to Granada, in which Neymar and Lionel Messi scored five between them.

Barca were less impressive in defeating Apoel of Nicosia 1-0 a fortnight ago but will be in more confident mood today than PSG, who although unbeaten in Ligue 1, have won only three of their eight games.

Tonight, PSG will have to do without striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic who missed the club’s last two Ligue 1 games. He has not fully recovered from heel pains.

Ezequiel Lavezzi is also doubtful and PSG may have to turn to Edinson Cavani, who scored the goal in an unconvincing opening draw against Ajax.

Ajax visit Apoel today, when the remaining groups all feature recent winners of the competition.

Bayern Munich, who beat Borussia Dortmund in the 2013 final, visit CSKA Moscow for a match being played behind closed doors after the Russians were punished by UEFA for racist conduct by supporters last season.

In their opening Group E game, the Muscovites were on the wrong end of a 5-1 result away to Roma, while Bayern defeated Manchester City 1-0 with a late goal by the former City defender Jerome Boateng.

The English champions now need to improve on a poor home record in previous Champions League campaigns when they host Roma, who, like Juve, have won every Serie A game this season.

Group G sees Chelsea’s charismatic coach Jose Mourinho return to his native Portugal for the tie with Sporting Lisbon, while Porto, the team he made surprise European champions in 2004, top Group H ahead of their clash with Shakhtar Donetsk.

Tomorrow, England’s other challengers Arsenal follow an opening defeat in Dortmund with a home game against Galatasaray, while the Germans travel to Anderlecht.

Group E

  P W D L F A Pts
Roma 1 1 0 0 5 1 3
B. Munich 1 1 0 0 1 0 3
Man. City 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
CSKA 1 0 0 1 1 5 0

Roma vs CSKA Moscow - 5-1
B. Munich vs Man. City - 1-0
Man. City vs Roma - today
CSKA vs B. Munich - today (18.00)
21/10/14: CSKA Moscow vs Man. City
21/10/14: Roma vs B. Munich
05/11/14: Man. City vs CSKA Moscow
05/11/14: B. Munich vs Roma
25/11/14: CSKA Moscow vs Roma
25/11/14: Man. City vs B. Munich
10/12/14: Roma vs Man. City
10/12/14: B. Munich vs CSKA Moscow

Group F

  P W D L F A Pts
Barcelona 1 1 0 0 1 0 3
Ajax 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
Paris SG 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
Apoel 1 0 0 1 0 1 0

Barcelona vs Apoel - 1-0
Ajax vs Paris SG -  1-1
Paris SG vs Barcelona -  today
Apoel vs Ajax -  today
21/10/14: Apoel vs Paris SG
21/10/14: Barcelona vs Ajax
05/11/14: Paris SG vs Apoel
05/11/14: Ajax vs Barcelona
25/11/14: Apoel vs Barcelona
25/11/14: Paris SG vs Ajax
10/12/14: Barcelona vs Paris SG
10/12/14: Ajax vs Apoel

Group G

  P W D L F A Pts
Chelsea 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
Maribor 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
Schalke 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
Sporting 1 0 1 0 1 1 1

Maribor vs Sporting -  1-1
Chelsea vs Schalke -  1-1
Sporting vs Chelsea -  today
Schalke vs Maribor -  today
21/10/14: Schalke vs Sporting
21/10/14: Chelsea vs Maribor
05/11/14: Sporting vs Schalke
05/11/14: Maribor vs Chelsea
25/11/14: Schalke vs Chelsea
25/11/14: Sporting vs Maribor
10/12/14: Chelsea vs Sporting
10/12/14: Maribor vs Schalke

Group H

  P W D L F A Pts
Porto 1 1 0 0 6 0 3
A. Bilbao 1 0 1 0 0 0 1
S. Donetsk 1 0 1 0 0 0 1
Bate Borisov 1 0 0 1 0 6 0

Porto vs Bate Borisov -  6-0
A. Bilbao vs S. Donetsk -  0-0
S. Donetsk vs Porto -  today
Bate Borisov vs A. Bilbao -  today
21/10/14: Bate Borisov vs S. Donetsk
21/10/14: Porto vs A. Bilbao
05/11/14: S. Donetsk vs Bate Borisov
05/11/14: A. Bilbao vs Porto
25/11/14: Bate Borisov vs Porto
25/11/14: S. Donetsk vs A. Bilbao
10/12/14: Porto vs S. Donetsk
10/12/14: A. Bilbao vs B. Borisov

Tomorrow

Group A
Atl. Madrid vs Juventus
Malmo vs Olympiakos

Group B
Basel vs Liverpool
Ludogorets vs Real Madrid

Group C
Zenit vs Monaco - 18.00
B. Leverkusen vs Benfica

Group D
Anderlecht vs B. Dortmund
Arsenal vs Galatasaray

(kick-offs 20.45 unless stated)

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