The Milwaukee Bucks clinched their first NBA title in 50 years last time around, but, for some reason, not many pundits felt that they would manage to repeat that feat. Following their opening game exploits against the Brooklyn Nets, we imagine that quite a few 'experts' are not re-thinking the matter. Though the Nets were without Kyrie Irving, a loss that could be resolved in a very speedy fashion, nothing should be taken away from the efforts of Mike Budenholzer's talented and capable team. Milwaukee didn't mess around, getting off to a blinding start by going on a 21-4 run in the first quarter before running out 127-104 victors against the early season favorites. No doubt this loss will have an effect on the odds comparison market that still has Brooklyn at (+250) while the Bucks can be picked up at (+900). It was, of course, Giannis Antetokounmpo who did the lion's share of the damage, scoring 32 points and picking a team-high of seven assists. The Nets would have been wiped off the court if it wasn't for Kevin Durant, who picked up 32 points, four assists, and two blocks, and his comments at the end will have certainly alerted Irving, with the impressive star-turn remarking; "We were climbing uphill all game." It remains to be seen whether Irving will reverse his stance on getting vaccinated against COVID-19, and one imagines that the Nets won't hang around forever for the 29-year-old to make the right decision. Currently, Irving is out of action and can't participate when Brooklyn is playing at home, and the organization isn't willing to pick him for the games that he is actually eligible to play in, leaving him out in the cold. The display wasn’t one that impressed Nets coach Steve Nash and in many ways this might, for once, take away some of the media attention from Kyrie Irving. Nash’s assessment of the performance was straightforward, and accurate; "We weren't very good,” Steve Nash before adding. “If you're not playing at a high level against the champs, you're not going to win.” In taking down the Nets, it was clear that Milwaukee was taking up just where they left off, following their NBA title-winning game with an excellent display in the first game of their defense. It's that dedication to building on the Championship win that was typified by Antetokounmpo's display, and indeed his post-match comments; "We're part of history," Antetokounmpo said. "I'm excited. But now it's over with. We've got to focus on building good habits, keep moving forward and keep playing good basketball, and hopefully, we can repeat this again this year, next year, and all the years that we're going to be here down the road." Once again, Giannis has able support from Khris Middleton, and though Jrue Holiday sat out the second half, Pat Connaughton also weighed in with the points to help ease the Bucks past a Nets side that will be keen to erase this opening day defeat.

The UEFA Champions League is back under way and the English sides are looking to dominate once again. There have been five English sides in the last four finals with English sides winning all English ties twice. Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 back in 2018/19 season and the reigning champions, Chelsea, defeated Manchester City 1-0 last season. With two of the past three finals being all English affairs, the other top five European leagues are at present playing catch up with an ever improving Premier League, looking to dominate European football for the foreseeable future. Four English sides are in the Champions League once again and are all familiar faces to the competition. Reigning champions Chelsea, last season’s runners up Manchester City, 2020/21 Europa League finalists Manchester United and Liverpool all represent England in the tournament. Chelsea are in a strong place once again to compete for the trophy and are one of the favourites once again in betting sites available now at around 7/2 outright. Thomas Tuchel proved his elite level management when he took over from Frank Lampard last season and secured the Champions League, finished fourth in the Premier League and runners up in the FA Cup. This season has not seen the vast flurry of signings that have happened in the past, but a huge addition of Romelu Lukaku has made the west London side a real force to be reckoned with. Manager Pep Guardiola is still looking for Champions League success with his Manchester City side and are currently the most fancied English side with odds of around 4/1. Like Chelsea, there has been just the one addition and a major singing also. Jack Grealish arrived from Aston Villa for a fee of around £100 million, a British transfer record. What has been noticeable is there lack of a key striker after their pursuit of Harry Kane ended without success this summer with the departure of Sergio Aguero to Barcelona after his contract expired this summer. Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is probably the most under pressure manager from the four English sides going in to this tournament. After losing out to Villareal in the Europa League last season, a demanding supporter base is expecting to see more trophies coming back to Old Trafford who want the side to return to levels of the glory days under Sir Alex Ferguson. Again, money has been spent and three big singings have been made to strengthen the squad with Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and the return of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. Despite their long list of big names, they are still 8/1 to win the tournament and they will need to improve their consistency especially after losing to Young Boys in the opening match this season. Liverpool are the longer shot according to the odds in comparison to the other English sides coming in at around 10/1. Jurgen Klopps side have started the season strongly and have their key central defender Virgil Van Dijk back in the starting 11. They have not brought in the big names like the other three sides, but they have strong identity and big game players like Mohammad Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Outside of the Englsih sides, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) are the main frontrunners for the competition. The French side already had Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in the forward line, brought in one of the greatest ever players in football, Lionel Messi. The argentine left Barcelona this summer for the French capital after his contract expired with the Spanish side. The Parisians are currently joint favourites with Manchester City for the tournament and will be an entertaining side to watch this season once again. Other giants of the game are within reach of the English sides, though do seem a little way off. Bayern Munich have odds of around 11/2 and seem, along with PSG, the main side to challenge the Emglish sides. Real Madrid are considered a little way off at 18/1 and Atletico Madrid are 20/1. The Spanish sides seem to have lost ground on the favourites, and Barcelona appears to be in freefall at present. A once global powerhouse, the Catalan side are struggling financially and trying to come to terms with losing their greatest ever player, Messi. Atletico will be a tough opponent as they always are under Diego Simeone, and can be seen as a dark horse going into the tournament. Real Madrid have started the season electrically in attack and with Carlo Ancelotti back in charge, he will be hoping to make up for some limited defensive stability with a offensive, Galactico style of play to go out and dominate sides. Both sides are considered long shots, but have the history and the talent to challenge once again. Money plays a big part in all of this. The Premier League is the most lucrative in the world and the clubs have such wild investments and incomes that clubs are able to bring in the best players in the world. With the resources being limited around other leagues in Europe, other sides have been forced to rethink and plan their development differently. While the landscape of football changes across Europe and the spending becomes reigned in, the Premier League sides and PSG continue to power on. Anything can happen in tournament football, especially when we move in to the knockout rounds. Eyes will be keenly drawn to the later stages to see if any of the other European sides can halt the English team’s recent dominance in the tournament this time out.

France vs Bosnia will be played on Wednesday evening at 19:45 at the Stade de la Meinau in Strasbourg. The match is played in group D of the qualifications for the 2021 World Cup, 4th round. In the round match, France won 1-0 in Bosnia due to the goal scored by Griezmann in the 60th minute. In the five direct matches between Bosnia and France, there were three victories for France and two draws. France will play the first official match after Euro 2020, where it was eliminated in the round of 16 by Switzerland. The disappointment was a big one for France who wanted a qualification in the final, after taking the world title in 2018 and in 2016 playing the final at Euro 2016. For this match Dechamps will have the whole team at the head led by Kylian Mbappé, star of the Paris SG. On the other hand, Bosnia is going through a difficult period, reaching 13 consecutive matches since they did not win, during which time they recorded eight defeats and five draws. The last match for Bosnia was the friendly lost 2-0 away to Denmark. Bosnia's last victory was against Liechtenstein, score 0-3. Prediction: OVER 2.5 GOALS WIN @ 1.55

On Friday evening at 17:30, in a match from the 2nd stage of Serie A, Udinese will receive the visit of Venezia. 20 years have passed since the two faced in Serie A, Venice returning to the first division after the 2001-2002 season. In that season, each team managed to win the match at home, Venezia with 2-1 in the round and return, Udinese prevailed with 1-0. The most recent direct confrontations were in 2019 and 2020, in friendly matches, where there was a tie, 0-0 and a 1-0 victory of Venezia in 2020. Udinese has a very good morale in this match, succeeding in the first stage of the new season, a draw at home in the company of Juventus, after the break, the score was 0-2 in favor of "Old Lady". In the first official match of this season, Udinese won 3-1 the home match in round 1 of the Italian Cup, played against Ascoli. Udinese will play today the 3rd consecutive match on its own field. As I said above, Venezia returns to the first league after a break of 20 years, managing to be promoted at the end of last season in Serie B. In the first official match of this season, Udinese recorded a small surprise, managing to qualify in round 2 of the Italian Cup, after eliminating after the penalty kicks on Frosinone, the score at the end of the 120 minutes being 0-0. At the debut in Serie A, Venezia lost 2-0 the away match against Napoli. Prediction: Udinese WIN @ 1.70