The Big Ears Cup restarts: Champions League draws tonight

It was 2010 when Italian football experienced its last winning night in the Champions League: Josè Mourinho's Inter raised the Cup to the skies and sealed the Triplete. In May next year, 16 years will have passed, a record as bad as that between the triumph of Nereo Rocco's Milan in 1969 and that of Juventus on the tragic night of the Heysel Stadium, exactly 40 years ago. Tonight, Thursday 28 August, with the draw in Monte Carlo, the Italian side's pursuit of the 'big ears' cup officially begins, in the hope of breaking that long fast.

In its new format, which has received widespread consensus from many industry insiders, with a single maxi-giron in which all 32 participating teams are grouped, there will be four Italian clubs: SSC Napoli, Inter, Atalanta and Juventus with the league winners placed in the third tier, Dea and Signora among the components of the second tier and the Milanese club the only team in the first tier.

In the first phase, each club will face a total of eight opponents, two from each of the four brackets of nine teams each, determined according to their position in the Uefa rankings, with the exception of Cup winner Psg who are placed directly in the first bracket. The top eight qualify directly for the round of 16, while the teams from 9th to 24th place will face each other in a knockout round to advance to the next stage.

Inter, although burnt by thetraumatic 5-0 loss they suffered on 31 May in the final against Psg, appear to be the better equipped team, if only for having made it to the final in the last three years. But the most anticipated is Napoli, who have bolstered their squad with former Premier League star De Bruyne. The strengthening campaign has also brought Beukema, Lang, Lucca and Milinkovic-Savic to Conte's court, so the Lecce coach can afford a turn over to compete in Europe and in Serie A. And spare parts will be needed because the Italian champions have been matched up against tough teams: Manchester City, Chelsea, plus the not exactly accessible Benfica and PSV. While compatriot Atalanta will have to contend with PSG and also against Chelsea. It doesn't get much better for Inter: two away matches in the Premier League, against Liverpool champions Liverpool and the hostile Arsenal, one in Germany against Borussia Dortmund and also in Spain against Aletico Madrid. The Nerazzurri, however, are spared the most distant and absurd away trip: to Almaty, in Kazakhstan, against the local team that will play Milan. The Juventus also draws the fearsome Borussia and the fallen, but still stellar, Real Madrid, orphaned by Ancelotti. As partial consolation, it should be noted that many of the toughest matches, for the Italian clubs, will be played at home, with the exception of SSC Napoli's tricky away match in Manchester against City.

he draw will be partially 'manual': one team at a time will be physically drawn from each bracket, but then an electronic UEFA programme will determine the eight opponents for each club, respecting precise criteria: