When the summer fades to autumn, children return to school and the evenings get shorter, football fans know what’s on the horizon: the return of European football and that famous Champions League anthem.

Serie A has, for the first time, five clubs competing in Europe’s premier competition. Due to Italy’s excellent Uefa coefficient ranking last season they, along with Germany, will have five teams in the new-and-improved (debatable at this stage) format. This is the first year of the Swiss model where a league stage has replaced the traditional eight groups of four and the number of teams has increased from 32 to 36.

The top eight teams will go through to the Round of 16, while teams from ninth to 24th will take part in a play-off round to determine the remaining eight clubs that will feature in the knockout stages.

Inter Milan, AC Milan, Atalanta, Juventus and Bologna will all participate this season. So how will each club get on? Destination Calcio takes a look.

Inter

Fixtures: Man City (A); Red Star (H); Young Boys (A); Arsenal (H); RB Leipzig (H); Bayer Leverkusen (A); Sparta Prague (A); Monaco (H).

The reigning Serie A champions should be looking to make a deep run this season in the competition after easing their way to a 20th Scudetto in May.

Yet the same was thought of Inter in the Champions League last season, but they floundered against Atletico Madrid in the Round of 16, going out of the competition on penalties after initially being 2-0 up on aggregate. An exit at that stage this season wouldn’t be tolerated by the club, and Simone Inzaghi is under pressure in Europe to emulate the 2022-23 campaign in which they reached the final.

Games against Man City, Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen are the standout ties in the new league format for the Nerazzurri. 

AC Milan

Fixtures: Liverpool (H); Leverkusen (A); Club Brugge (H); Real Madrid (A); Slovan Bratislava (A); Girona (H); Dinamo Zagreb (A).

Milan exited the Champions League at the group stage last season, and new coach Paulo Fonseca will be expected to produce better results this season under the new format. 

Things haven’t started that brightly for the former Roma manager, and should results not go his way against Liverpool in their Champions League opener and the Milan derby, the Portuguese boss could be out of a job. Yet looking at Milan’s fixtures in Europe, they should be expected to progress to the knockout phase. 

The standout ties are, of course, against Liverpool, Real Madrid and Leverkusen, yet with Milan playing many of the lesser teams, doing better than last year is the bare minimum for the seven-time champions.

Juventus

Fixtures: PSV Eindhoven (H); RB Leipzig (A); Stuttgart (H); Lille (A); Aston Villa (A); Man City (H); Club Brugge (A); Benfica (H)

After missing out on European football last season as a result of financial irregularities, Juventus are now back at Europe’s top table. The Old Lady was one of the biggest spenders last summer, as Cristiano Giuntoli aims to give new manager Thiago Motta the best squad possible to compete on four fronts.

Juve will be expected to do well in their return to the Champions League. The fixture list has thrown up a lot of intriguing ties for the Bianconeri, with the club facing PSV for the first time ever, for example. Games against Man City and Aston Villa stand out, but Motta will be expected to guide Juve into the Round of 16 for the first time since 2021-22.

While winning the competition, something that’s been an albatross around the club’s neck since 1996, isn’t likely this season, reaching the last eight is more than achievable with the current squad, and something to build on for next season. 

Atalanta

Fixtures: Arsenal (H); Shakhtar Donetsk (A); Celtic (H); Stuttgart (A); Young Boys (A); Real Madrid (H): Sturm Graz (H); Barcelona (A).

La Dea are back in the Champions League after missing out for two years. Yet their time in the Europa League wasn’t a wasted campaign, as they romped to the title in Dublin last May, swatting aside Liverpool, Sporting, Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen in the process. 

Gian Piero Gasperini has kept most of the side that stormed to European success, with the only key departure being Juventus-bound Teun Koopmeiners. However Gasperini has lost Gianluca Scamacca and Giorgio Scalvini to long-term injury, and several new signings will take time to adjust to his rigorous tactical demands.

How far Atalanta can go remains to be seen. Their fixture list has thrown up some fascinating ties in the shape of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Arsenal, while the game against Celtic will surely be atmospheric. Gasperini’s men should be looking to advance to the Round of 16, with many of their games highly winnable. 

Bologna

Fixtures: Shakhtar Donestk (H); Liverpool (A); Aston Villa (A); Monaco (H); Lille (H); Benfica (A); Borussia Dortmund (H); Sporting (A).

Bologna are Italy’s 11th different representative in the Champions League since its 1992 rebrand, and the Rossoblu are arguably the most unlikely. Thiago Motta inspired the club to one of its best-ever seasons, and took advantage of Italy earning the fifth Champions League spot to secure continental football at the Stadio Dall’Ara last term.

Yet since then, much has changed. Motta has gone, as have star players of last season — Riccardo Calafiori, Joshua Zirkzee and Alexis Saelemaekers — leaving Bologna significantly weaker than five months ago. 

Vincenzo Italiano has taken over from Motta, and the former Fiorentina boss hasn’t won a game in the opening three weeks of the season with his new club. Looking at Bologna’s fixture list in their inaugural Champions League campaign, it’s hard to envision progression into the Round of 16.

Yet of course the main theme is to enjoy the ride, games against Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Aston Villa will set the pulses racing for Bologna fans. But it would be highly unusual if they managed to qualify to the knockout stages.

Then again, they did qualify for the competition in the first place, so anything is possible.