Fear not football fans, the iconic Champions League anthem will be blaring out across Europe again over the next two days as the group stages of this year's tournament get underway.

It feels like years ago since a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired Real Madrid made history by becoming the first team to retain the top prize in European football with victory over Juventus in June.

But a new season means everyone starts on zero and there will be plenty of teams who will fancy their chances at ending Los Blancos' dominance this time around.

According to Paddy Power, Zinedine Zidane's men are currently considered the favourites to win it for a third straight year while their closest challengers are expected to be Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

Of the English contenders, the two Manchester clubs have the lowest odds (10/1), with Chelsea and Liverpool just a bit further away at 14/1 and 16/1 respectively. Sorry Tottenham fans but you're at 35/1 at the time of writing.

That's who the bookies like the look of but what does Football Manager think will happen?

Football Manager has gained a huge following over the last few years for the amount of real-life data used to create one of the most addictive games on the planet.

And fans have also become eagerly interested in seeing what the guys over at Sports Interactive predict will happen when they sim a season.

Thankfully they have obliged. Here is what they found.

Group Stages

Group winners: Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, Man City, AS Monaco, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Roma.

Second Placed: Shakhtar, Tottenham, Atletico, Bayern, Dortmund, FC Porto, Sporting, Chelsea.

You might notice a few big names being absent. Yes, according to Football Manager, both Man United and Barcelona will crash out at the group stage.

Looks like it's the Europa League for Jose Mourinho again then.

Round of Last 16

Sporting 1-6 Liverpool
Tottenham 2-4 Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid 4-1 Monaco
Porto 2-1 Man City
Chelsea 2-2p Juventus
Bayern Munich 6-2 Sevilla
Shakhtar 1-6 PSG
Dortmund 2-2a Roma

The biggest headline from this round is that three of the English teams are out. Although Tottenham and Chelsea were given tough draws, Man City will be disappointed to lose to Porto.

Elsewhere, PSG and Bayern are looking in very decent shape.

Quarter-finals

Bayern Munich 1-4 Atletico Madrid
PSG 3-1 Real Madrid
Porto 1-3 Liverpool
Juventus 3-1 Roma

What were we saying about Bayern? The Germans are out but Liverpool's impressive charge continues.

Defending champions Madrid are also out and all of a sudden it's PSG's competition to lose.

Semi-finals

Juventus 2-1 Liverpool
Atletico 1-2 PSG

Jurgen Klopp's side surprising run is over after Juventus just prove too good and reach their second consecutive final.

With Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe leading the line, PSG are looking a really formidable force.

Final

Juventus 2-1 PSG

Max Allegri's side manage to banish their demons from that defeat to Madrid in last season's final by defeating favourites PSG in Kiev.

Gianluigi Buffon's wait for European glory is finally over and Paulo Dybala is the name on everyone's lips - not Neymar.

So put your money on Juventus now!