European football has been back for some time. The Premier League, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 have been underway for nearly three weeks now. But the start of another Champions League season, when the continent's premier clubs square off under the floodlights on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, that's when the term "European football" truly comes to the fore.
And every Champions League campaign begins well before the group stage's Matchday 1. Qualifying may have been happening since June, but it's the group draw, tonight in Istanbul, is truly the beginning of all 32 participating clubs' journey to the final on June 10 -- back here, in the biggest city in Turkey.