Ronald Koeman looks to his team to continue with the improvements in their European adventures as they play host to the Russian side CSKA Moscow, who themselves have history in European competition. Having been dumped out last year in the quarter Finals the Dutch champions will be desperate to start their tournament with a victory at the Philips Stadion. Much of the team remains intact and despite the lack of household names, there is a great wealth of experience and quality which will make PSV one of the favourites to move to the knockout stages of the tournament. New signing Danny Koevermans may be the man to make the difference in this match as his form has been impressive in his familiar striking role. A statistic which the Russian team will be well aware of.

The Russian Champions will know that they are underdogs in group G and will be trying hard to prove everyone wrong. Having won the Uefa cup several years ago CSKA Moscow have not managed to maintain their position as one of the stronger teams of elite tournaments and manager Valery Gazzaev may look to play defensively in this their first live Champions League football match to try to take a point at least from the Dutch side. Much of how well CSKA Moscow do in the tournament will depend upon their Brazilian striker Vagner Lovewho has been responsible for the majority of goals scored for the club in recent seasons. With him playing, the Russians will feel they have a chance against any team, but the reality will be that the fixtures will be a very hard test for the team.