Manchester United are intent on avenging their defeat in last year’s final at Wembley whilst their city neighbours and closest rivals Manchester City will be mixing it with the cream of European football for the very first time. Chelsea are ready for another tilt at the trophy which has so far eluded them on a number of occasions and Arsenal will once again be hoping to propel themselves into the later stages of the competition.

UEFA Champions League: Group A 

• FC Bayern Munich; MANCHESTER CITY; Napoli; Villarreal CF

FC Bayern Munich

Four-time winners and current leaders of the Bundesliga, Bayern have a proven pedigree in this competition. Suspect in defence despite the presence of captain Phillip Lahm, their main strengths lie in the final third. Arjen Robben and Bastian Schweinsteiger are key in midfield whilst in form Mario Gomez will be key upfront. 

One To Watch: Mario Gomez

Manchester City 

Strength in depth and quality in all departments, Roberto Mancini’s men look in excellent shape to challenge Europe’s elite. Question marks persist in defence making Nigel De Jong’s defensive midfield role even more important. David Silva has been a revelation and Sergio Agüero and Edin Džeko are looking to continue their excellent form.

One To Watch: Sergio Agüero

Napoli

Under manager Walter Mazzarri, The Azzurri have emerged as genuine title contenders in Serie A. They have re-enforced their midfield this summer with the introduction of Swiss defensive midfielder Gökhan Ä°nler and Macedonia captain Goran Pandev on-loan from Internazionale. Marek Hamšík will be key to Napoli’s creativity alongside Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani.

One To Watch: Edinson Cavani

Villarreal CF

El Submarino Amarillo had a memorable debut season in 2006, losing in the semi-finals. The loss of Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla to Malaga CF this summer is a blow given the small nature of the squad. Midfielder Marcos Senna will provide experience with Nilmar and Giuseppe Rossi undoubtedly a potent strike force. 

One To Watch: Giuseppe Rossi

UEFA Champions League: Group C

• FC Basle; S.L. Benfica; MANCHESTER UNITED; FC OÈ›elul GalaÈ›i

FC Basle 

Current holders of the Swiss Premier League and with a predominantly Swiss-based squad, Basle are relative newcomers to this competition. Midfielders Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka are vey much the future of Swiss football and will provide the main threat. Leading all-time Swiss National Team scorer Alexander Frei could pose problems upfront.

One To Watch: Xherdan Shaqiri

S.L. Benfica

A club with a proud European football history, the Lisbon-based club look like finishing runners-up in this group. Fabio Coentrão’s departure this summer to Real Madrid for €30,000,000 has allowed the club to strengthen. Ezequiel Garay and Luisão are a strong centre-back parternship and keep an eye on Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel.

One To Watch: Axel Witsel

Manchester United

Runners-up in last season’s competition, Sir Alex Ferguson will be looking to roll over an unstoppable looking FC Barcelona. United have pace and dynamism with Ashley Young and Nani in midfield along with experience in the form of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand in defence. Rooney and Hernandez continue to impress upfront.

One To Watch: Ashley Young 

FC Oțelul Galați

The great unknowns in this year’s competition, the Romanian champions won their first domestic title last season. They have European experience in the form of the UEFA Cup. The team will look to emulate the success of their counterparts CFR Cluj who made a real impact in the competition in 2008.

One To Watch: Marius Pena

UEFA Champions League: Group E

• Bayer 04 Leverkusen; CHELSEA; Racing Club Genk; Valencia CF

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Runners-up in 2002 to Real Madrid and that Zinedine Zidane wonder goal, Leverkusen are certainly a handy outfit. Defensively weak, Leverkusen’s strength lies in midfield which includes veteran midfielder Michael Ballack, Swiss winger Tranquilo Barnetta and Simon Rolfes. Striker André Scurrile is another German sensation, partnered upfront by the highly rated Eren Derdiyok.

One To Watch: André Scurrile 

Chelsea

So near and yet so far has, in recent seasons, been the moral of the story for the Stanford Bridge outfit. André Villas-Boas demonstrated his European pedigree during his only season at FC Porto, winning the UEFA Europa League. Juan Mata will be pivotal in this season’s pursuit of European glory.

One To Watch: Juan Mata 

Racing Club Genk

Winners of the Belgian Pro League last season, Genk are one of the main players in Belgian football alongside the likes of RSC Anderlecht and Standard Liège. Their main threat comes in the form of Belgian midfield starlet and Chelsea target Kevin De Bruyne. Thomas Buffel will be familiar to Rangers fans.

One To Watch: Kevin De Bruyne

Valencia CF

Financial problems off the pitch in recent seasons have signalled the departure of key players David Villa and Juan Mata. Nonetheless, Los Che remain an exciting team to watch. Manager Unai Emery has carried on regardless and brought in genuine quality in the form of Victor Ruiz and Pablo Piatti.

One To Watch: Pablo Piatti

UEFA Champions League: Group F

• ARSENAL; Borussia Dortmund; Olympique de Marseille; Olympiacos FC

Arsenal

A fourteenth consecutive appearance in the Champions League Group Stages represents a terrific achievement for The Gunners. Despite a number of Deadline Day re-enforcements, Wenger’s team look lightweight. Per Mertesacker will add much needed European experience in defence alongside Thomas Vermaelen however they will once again be over-reliant on Robin Van Persie.

One To Watch: Aaron Ramsey 

Borussia Dortmund 

A revelation last season under Jürgen Klopp, the current Bundesliga Champions make a welcome return to the competition. The highly coveted Serbian defender Neven Subotić will be vital in defence whilst in midfield Jakub BÅ‚aszczykowski will be a threat down the wings with youngster Mario Götze and Shinji Kagawa pulling the creative strings.

One To Watch: Mario Götze

Olympique de Marseille

Manager Didier Deschamps knows all about this competition having won it as the Captain of L’OM in 1993. César Azpilicueta is a talented attacking full-back whilst they are marshalled well in midfield by both Lucho González and Alou Diarra. Their attacking flair comes in the shape of Loïc Rémy and André Ayew.

One To Watch: Mathieu Valbuena 

Olympiacos FC

Despite being the most successful club in Greek football history, Thrylos have reached the quarter finals of this competition on just the one occasion. Centre-back Olof Mellberg will be familiar to fans of Aston Villa, however it’s their Spanish contingent of midfielders David Fuster and Francisco Yeste who’ll provide the greatest threat.

One To Watch: Kevin Mirallas

Twitter: @aleksklosok

It’s all well and good to decide that you’re going to start a business, but it has to be said that realities of becoming an employer can be quite difficult. And that’s before you actually employ anybody at all. As a restaurant we might expect to employ about 30 people under all sorts of terms for all sorts of roles. There are the really crucial ones – head chef, front of house manager – without whom we’d sink like a mafia hit – and there are also the less apparent but no less important other members of the team, like the wonderful individual who covers three hours of Sunday lunch rush.

So, let’s look at the logistics. In a town as short on jobs as Oxford purportedly is, it can be difficult to get applicants for even the best jobs we have to offer. The main bulk – the waiters and waitresses and whatnot – are still being processed, so we’ve only got the core four for now – but they are certainly a great start. To take you back to the beginning – our head chef position was a great offer and we endured months of torpor before finally, we were struck down and overjoyed by a sudden rush of top quality applicants. Prior to that Josh was waking up every morning and wondering whether it was finally time to rush through that NVQ so we could have a semblance of a chef and Hannah was having anxiety dreams at the possibility of having to study the terroirs of France (darlink) as well as how to tap a cask of top quality British beer as the general manager position was just as slow to gain attention.

Getting the applicants was only the beginning of the test.

Those that made it to the final round of the chef interviews had met with no fewer than five of us at least four times, sent in sample menus (with cost estimates) and been grilled on every conceivable subject from their feelings-on-working-with-thousands-of-students-to-improve-sustainability-in-the-hospitality-industry to, well, grilling (sorry). We discovered that picking staff was very much a different matter than simply selecting the best CV. We had some great technical chefs that left us cold and one candidate who gave us a collective shiver of mistrust almost straight away.

What were we looking for exactly? For front of house some of it is obvious: of course you want someone who knows their wine, their beer, their food as well as a really good grasp of maths and management. Those practical skills are an asset, undeniably (and in our eventual selections we’ve come up trumps), but what we’re looking for is someone to host the space: to be the personality of our restaurant. Personality may seem to matter less for a chef – we’re all well enough familiar with the screaming sociopath from Hell’s Kitchen – but outside of the world of reality television world we needed someone who would be dedicated, cook the stunning food, and also engage with us, the volunteers involved and the vision of the whole project. Personality aside, they did also have to prove reliable; candidates fell by the wayside as they vanished into thin air during the process, with phone numbers going dead and emails bouncing. It was all very Willy Wonka. Ish.

So, with all of this running through our heads, who did we choose in the end?

Well, here, meet our fantastic team: Carl is our very own Alain Ducasse (and for those of you who know your chefs, he’s Ducasse because he’s got more integrity than Gordon Ramsey and less science than Heston Blumenthal and does a good classic great). Hubris aside, Carl’s a great cook, can talk about food and growing your own from dawn to dusk and could not be more personable. Carl has come to us via Oxford’s own Branca and Magdalen Arms and all manner of places across London.

Carl is to be backed up by a sous chef of exceptional pedigree, but I can’t reveal the name for another couple of days, in case his boss gets angry with us. Patrick is our general manager. Responsible for booze, conviviality (the two are, in fact, distinct) and making sure we offer the best service in town (once again; more on this next time), Patrick comes to us via Kiss FM, Red Bull, some of London’s top gastro-pubs and more recently, his very own lovely place in the country. Supporting Patrick is Sean. Another of last year’s graduates (it’s not been two years yet, not for at least a couple more weeks), Sean was born into hospitality and brings a top-flight hotel service pedigree.

We still need plenty more bodies, but at the very least we have a head. And it’s got brains and beauty. Until next time.

Upon leaving Madrid, we all agreed that it was a remarkable city: one in which you work, sleep and play, rather than ostensibly a tourist honeypot. Much of the city seems unassuming, yet boasts some jaw-dropping sights such as the old palace which faces the cathedral towards the west of the city centre, and the busy Gran Via street running across the area. It is, nevertheless, a lively city, and as expected from Spain full of people eating late into the night: although we learnt the hard way that a meal on the Plaza Mayor is a terrible idea. A definite mistake to trust the menus! Toledo was the next destination: a mere half an hour train journey away from the Spanish capital, but a complete change in atmosphere if equally sweltering!

Having a hostel in the old part of the city was a real find, as the central part of Toledo is medieval, picturesque and definitely worth spending the time to explore properly. Surrounded by huge hills and the ancient city walls, Toledo is made up of countless tiny streets weaving into each other (which, aside from being inspiring to walk through, are all too easy to get lost in, as we found out all too many times!). There’s something very unique about the place, too: whether it’s the alarming amount of sword vendors or the turbulent mix of Jewish, Christian and Islamic cultural history, and the fact that it isn’t somewhere that everybody you know has visited makes exploring that much more exciting. Walking through the city continued to reveal amazing monuments nestled away, such as the grand cathedral which is quite literally in a hidden square, but nevertheless quite beautiful! Our day finished with tapas in the Enebro bar, recommended by the owner of our hostel, which was a find that defies belief- for every (very cheap!) drink, a tapa comes to your table, outside in a tree-covered courtyard. Nothing tastes better than Spanish sangria after a long day in the baking sun! It became even easier to get lost after leaving this restaurant, but night time Toledo was an incredible experience. The whole city carried a buzz late into the evening, with many eating and drinking late just like us, whilst the stars above the old buildings of Toledo surrounded by bats was so atmospheric.

Our next connection was to Turin, via a night train from Barcelona; we managed to reach Spain’s second city after a horrendous day of negotiating with surly ticket attendants to let us on to trains with the Interrail pass- not the most calming way to travel, especially with the night train to Italy being the last for five days! We had just enough time to head to the Sagrada de Familia, Gaudi’s world-famous cathedral, between our trains- despite Barcelona being a humid 37 degrees, the building was unbelievable- ironically, the empty back entrance boasts the best view of the structure. There’s something strange about the fact that it is under perpetual construction, too, as it depends on donors to keep the building work going. Even decades after the architect’s death, the sense of anticipation around the cathedral is a feeling that remains with you. However, we all collapsed into the night train at around seven that evening- air conditioning for 15 hours was irresistible! We had also been fed several horrific night-train crime stories by a sadistic friend before boarding, but thankfully there were no uneasy Agatha Christie/Orient Express vibes, and we awoke to the misty Alps speeding by: again, the view from the trains is a massive plus side to the whole interrailing experience.

So began our stay in Italy, which would continue for five days- we were immensely fortunate to meet a friend who was spending the summer in Italy who could interpret for us (finding breakfast after we left the Turin station was quite an experience with unfriendly and unsympathetic cafe owners!). Turin, despite being planned originally as a brief visit, proved to be a valuable addition to the journey: we had our first taste of authentic Italian pizza for lunch, (it goes without saying that this was delicious), and managed to see the whole of the city from above from the top of the Turin Cinema Museum, which slightly unexpectedly had a tower. It’s a clean, spacious city and is a lovely place to walk around- it’s a definite regret that we only had the afternoon to see it before we moved on to Florence.

Firenze was where we spent the weekend before moving on to Venice, and was also where we would meet the other half of our party who had spent the days between Paris in Rome. It was a struggle as we moved to throw our bags down in the hostel there, it being as hot as everywhere else so far, but we were soon able to go out for a meal once all together. It’s surprisingly easy to find cheap pizza meals in the city, whilst the table wine is absolutely fantastic- nothing on what you’d get in Britain for the same price- and dirt cheap! A stroll around in the evening led us to gelato near the Piazza di Santa Croce- nothing is more touristy, admittedly, but a definite must for any visitor. We devoted the entire next day to walking through the city, spending some time in the Medici Palace (a remnant of an ancient powerful family in the city’s history), and just wandering through the tall streets and Piazzas. There seems to be a grand Piazza every hundred metres or so in Florence, each with an ornate and immensely atmospheric church in the corner- almost beyond belief! After reading Forster’s A Room With A View, and realising that the city boasts a huge artistic and literary heritage, it feels like you’re walking through a novel, tracing Lucy Honeychurch’s steps, or perhaps featuring in a Browning poem: a really surreal experience at times! Nevertheless, a truly memorable experience- more from Florence and from the beautiful Venice to come in the next instalment!