In recent years, the Uefa Champions League group stage has tended to be an exercise in the predictable for Europe’s biggest clubs. The format is forgiving and allows for a defeat or two.

While representatives of middle-ranking countries must struggle and sweat to even get into a position from which to progress to the knockout stages, there are no such difficulties for the likes of record winners Real Madrid.

This being the start of a new three-year television cycle, there are differences that will immediately become apparent to the viewer at home, particularly as regards the scheduling. To be honest, it is surprising Uefa have waited this long to replicate the long-established Europa League habit of split kick-off times on any given match night.

Clubs are handsomely remunerated merely for participating in the group stage. Just ask Celtic based on recent years, although not this one. Television companies through exorbitant rights fees do more than any other entity to fund the considerable prize money. So it is understandable that they now get a bit more value for their money by offering two games back-to-back, rather than just one.

Fans who go to games might grumble about a 5.55pm UK time start but there are only two per evening and games played on English soil this season all start at the later time of 8pm.

Tottenham’s away game in Italy against Inter does commence in the early slot and already has the look of an absorbing opener. Inter are back in Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since 2012 and determined to make up for lost time in front of a capacity crowd at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium. Given the presence of Barcelona, who begin at home against Dutch champions PSV, Group B is a section to keep tabs on.

Inter qualified the spectacular way, pipping Lazio at the post. A look at the squad and the credibility of the coach, Luciano Spalletti makes you feel the Nerazzurri are capable of making a run. I have long been an admirer of Mauro Icardi and Ivan Perisic and the additions of Radja Nainggolan and Keita Balde have put meat on the Inter bones. Early Serie A results have been mixed but Spurs will not take their Tuesday evening task lightly.

Later that night, Liverpool face PSG at Anfield. Respective managers Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel are seriously interlinked. A year after Klopp left Mainz for Dortmund, Tuchel took over the reins of the Rheinhessen. He stayed there for five productive seasons before plumping for a break which lasted a year.

Tuchel’s next job was following directly in Klopp’s footsteps before the famous Dortmund wall itself. He immediately impressed with tactical bravado but left on a low note with internal relationships at the Westfalen club having taken a bruising. Tuchel, it was said, lacked certain personal skills.

That he has landed a high profile gig in Paris after another year away from the game, is no shock. The pressure is on however as the Champions League is the trophy that means most to PSG’s Qatari owners. They have fallen short among Europe’s elite and Tuchel was hired to change that situation.

Tactics can always stifle football but really, how can this be anything other than an attacking feast? Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino on one side and Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani on the other. There is every reason to believe the Champions League will sizzle on Tuesday.

The Wednesday baton is picked up by Hoffenheim, an intriguing team featuring in the group phase for the first time. Coached by 30-year-old wunderkind Julian Nagelsmann in his final season before embarking on a new project in Leipzig, Hoffenheim finished third in the Bundesliga last term. Even had they ended up fourth, they would still have received automatic entry into the Champions League group stages, another change that assists teams from the highest ranked leagues. Play-offs are a thing of the past for the richest.

Hoffenheim will be tested away to a Shakhtar Donetsk team comprising mostly of Ukrainian national team players and Brazilians. Manchester City will be watching closely as they travel to Hoffenheim’s compact ground in the Kraichgau region in just over a fortnight. First things, first, the Premier League champions host Lyon for whom former Celtic striker Moussa Dembele now wears the number nine shirt.

Manchester United, meanwhile, will be in Switzerland and favoured heavily against Young Boys, who make their Champions League group-stage bow. YB, as they are known, clinched their first Swiss title for 32 years last spring, but have since lost their able Austrian coach, Adi Hutter, to Eintracht Frankfurt.

LISTENING in from afar to the rationale behind picking Hampden over Murrayfield as Scotland’s national stadium, I heard SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell talk about the need to improve transport links.

Germany remains the role model for joined up thinking in that area. Attend any Bundesliga or national team game, and your match ticket also serves as a train, tram, underground or bus voucher within the local area.

If you go to a Bayern home game, you will also find free shuttle buses leaving every few minutes from the Marienplatz city centre landmark, whisking fans to and from the Allianz Arena, eight miles away. These are especially popular with out of towners who want to enjoy the many delights of Munich before embarking on a stress- free trip to the stadium.

It should be fairly easy to have such buses leaving from Queen Street and Central stations for the majority of Scotland fans who come in from outwith Glasgow. It is supposed to be an enjoyable day out, rather than, as it often has seemed, a grind just to get to and from Hampden. If the south side of Glasgow venue is to be Scotland’s football cathedral for the next few decades, the faithful deserve better treatment on the travel front, particularly on weekday evenings.

The Commonwealth Games provided this kind of shuttle service and I’m told, helped make the experience. Over to you, SFA. The centralised television deal with Uefa greatly benefits all national associations in financial terms.

It is surely time to set aside a small portion of the proceeds to make it all that bit smoother for the fan who has already spent hours on a train coming from Elgin, Montrose, Dumfries or Eyemouth.