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Madrid eye winning start to UCL defence

Real Madrid kick off the defence of their Champions League title against Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday evening at the Santiago Bernabeu, where the hosts have not been beaten in the group stage of the competition for seven years.

On that occasion in October 2009, AC Milan inflicted a 3-2 defeat on a Manuel Pellegrini-coached Real side that would go on to the top the group with ease but fall at the last 16 stage at the hands of Lyon. Since then, Real have reached at least the semifinals of the tournament every season. Keeping that record intact is the bare minimum expected from manager Zinedine Zidane's squad this time around.