Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany (left) defends possession from Viktoria Plzen’s Daniel Kolar during last week’s Champions League Group D match.

Manchester City have embarked on their third campaign in the UEFA Champions League this season, this time under the charge of Manuel Pellegrini who replaced Roberto Mancini in the summer.

In their first participation in 2011-12, City finished third in their group, behind Bayern Munich and Napoli and ended up playing in the Europa League where they were eliminated by Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon in the KO stages.

The Blues fared even worse last season, finishing bottom of a group that featured Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax.

This time around, the Citizens are targeting a stronger performance as they bid to establish themselves among the elite clubs on the continent.

City enjoyed a positive start to this year’s campaign after a 3-0 win at Viktoria Plzen, of the Czech Republic.

Manchester United also began their commitments on a winning note after easing past Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 at Old Trafford.

Arsenal completed a hat-trick of victories for English sides, beating Marseille 2-1 at the Stade Velodrome.

Chelsea were the only English club to lose their opening Champions League match as they threw away a 1-0 lead in a 2-1 defeat to Swiss side FC Basel at Stamford Bridge.

Scottish champions Celtic performed well against Milan but still suffered a 2-0 defeat at the San Siro.

The Champions League resu-mes next week with Manchester City hosting holders Bayern Munich in the highlight of the second day.

The Bavarians are under the charge of Pep Guardiola who last month guided the team to Super Cup success at the expense of Chelsea in Prague.

The Blues of Manchester met Bayern Munich in their maiden Champions League campaign in 2011-12, sharing the honours in the group phase as both sides won their home match 2-0.

Manchester United travel to Ukraine to take on Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Red Devils have never met Shakhtar Donetsk in this competition and their only connections with clubs from Ukraine came against Dynamo Kiev.

In 2001, United won 1-0 at Old Trafford and drew away 0-0.

In 2008, the Mancunians did the double over Kiev with a 4-1 away victory and a 4-0 home win.

Chelsea will be looking to put their Champions League ambitions back on track when they travel to Bucharest to face Steaua.

Last season, the Blues crossed swords with Steaua for the first time in their history in the Europa League.

After losing the first leg in Romania 1-0, the Blues turned the tie in their favour when winning the return leg 3-1 at Stamford Bridge.

Napoli test

After their opening-day win over Marseille, Arsenal face a tough fixture when they meet Serie A front-runners Napoli at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsene Wenger’s side have a positive record against Italian opposition.

From a total of 29 encounters Arsenal have won 15, drew eight and lost six.

Arsenal were only eliminated on aggregate or earned fewer points in a group against an Italian side on two occasions.

In season 1999-2000, they were beaten 1-0 by Fiorentina at Wembley Stadium before holding the Italians to a goalless draw in Florence.

In 2008, Arsenal edged out Milan on aggregate but four years later the Italians took sweet revenge after ousting the North London club 4-3 on aggregate.

Arsenal and Napoli will be meeting for the first time.

It will be a return to London for Spanish coach Rafael Benitez who this season took charge of Napoli after guiding Chelsea last term.

After reaching the knock-out phase of the Champions League last season, Celtic are once again hoping to progress from a strong group that also features Milan, Barcelona and Ajax.

Following their defeat at San Siro, the Scottish champions have another arduous test coming up when they host Barcelona at Parkhead.

Celtic have met the Spanish giants on five occasions.

Their only favourable outcome was in 2002-03 in the fourth round of the UEFA Cup, defeating them 1-0 on aggregate after their home victory.

Last season they shared the points as Celtic lost 1-2 away and emerged victorious 2-1 at home.