The Champions League proper returns this evening, with another star-studded cast of the world's greatest teams and players bidding to get their hands on the biggest prize in the club game.

Real Madrid are once again the defending champions having beaten Liverpool in the final in Paris last season, but there are no shortage of clubs looking to knock Los Blancos off their perch this time around.

Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain will resume their quest for a first-ever title, while the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus will be desperate to end a string of recent disappointments in Europe.

Here, the Sports Mole team discuss who they believe will lift the prestigious trophy at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul on June 10.

Barney Corkhill, Editor - Manchester City

This is such a difficult competition to predict, and whatever answer I give I would not be entirely convinced by it - more because there are so many good teams rather than no-one good enough to run away with it.

Real Madrid can never be discounted - they were not the best team in the competition last season but still managed to miraculously find a way to number 14 - while Liverpool's recent European record under Jurgen Klopp - three finals in the last five years - cannot be ignored either, regardless of their disappointing start to the Premier League season.

Barcelona are showing signs of being a force again, it would never be a surprise to see Bayern Munich go all the way, and PSG's wonder team including Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar are capable of beating anyone.

For me, though, it is Manchester City who start as slight favourites for the crown. The nagging doubt is that they have continually fallen short as favourites in the past, and Pep Guardiola's past success in the competition holds less authority every year, but it is impossible to ignore their quality.

The addition of goalscoring machine Erling Braut Haaland, who has already proven he can do it on this stage with the best goals-per-game ratio in Champions League history, makes them an even more fearsome prospect, and had they had the Norwegian in their ranks last season then they might not have crashed out in such heartbreaking fashion.

You could throw a dart at a dartboard with six or seven teams on and be as likely to pick the correct answer as if you carefully selected it, but I suspect that this could be the year that Man City finally get their hands on the prize they want above all others.

Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter - Paris Saint-Germain

I'm prepared to be the subject of ridicule if history repeats itself, but I honestly cannot look past Paris Saint-Germain this year.

Of course, Ligue 1 is their bread and butter, and they have made a near-faultless start to the new campaign as expected. Christophe Galtier's 4-4-2 may have gone slightly stale towards the end of his tenure at Nice, but by implementing a three-man backline at PSG, it is difficult to pinpoint a weak spot in the team.

Midfield has been a problem area for Les Parisiens for a number of years, but the astute acquisitions of Vitinha, Renato Sanches, Carlos Soler and Fabian Ruiz – coupled with Marco Verratti and the physical Danilo Pereira – means that Galtier's side should not lose too many battles in the engine room over the coming months.

The impact that Galtier and Luis Campos have had in a short space of time has been clearly felt, and there just seems to be a different feel about this PSG side compared to the ones that suffered capitulation after capitulation in Europe. Real Madrid, Manchester City and even Barcelona will aim to give PSG a good run for their money, but a long-awaited Champions League trophy could very well end up in the Parc des Princes cabinet.

Joel Lefevre, Reporter - Manchester City

I am picking Manchester City to capture their first Champions League title this season. By now City have plenty of experience in this competition, and the addition of Erling Braut Haaland I believe is the missing ingredient for Pep Guardiola's side to take the next step.

They have arguably the best player in Europe in virtually every position at the moment, in Ederson, Ruben Dias, Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland, but as a unit this group are dangerous with several players capable of stepping up to be the hero.

The other thing they have going for them is the feeling of unfinished business having come so close the past two seasons. The likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and PSG I believe will give them a run for their money and should be in the thick of it, but I think all around City will have just a little more.

Marvelous Adepoju, Reporter - Paris Saint-Germain

The Ligue 1 giants are always touted to deliver on the continental front every year but they have never managed to go all the way in Europe's premier club competition.

However, off the back of a massive clear-out at the Parc des Princes this summer, PSG have arguably their most balanced squad ever while also managing to fend off competition from Real Madrid to keep hold of Kylian Mbappe.

Mbappe and his fellow strike partners Neymar and Lionel Messi have all started the current campaign on fire and I am tipping Les Parisiens to finally end their wait for a UCL title this year.

Brett Curtis, Reporter - Paris Saint-Germain

I'm siding with Paris Saint-Germain. It's early days under Christophe Galtier's management, of course, but the former Lille boss looks to have made the Parisians a more balanced unit already, having switched to a 3-4-3 formation in the early weeks of his tenure.

Crucially, that should allow Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi the positional flexibility to wreak havoc on opposition defenders, while their midfield pairing of Marco Verratti and Renato Sanches offer everything you could demand from the engine room, especially with Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes offering plenty of attacking width either side of them.

Sergio Ramos, Marquinhos and Presnel Kimpembe is a very good back three on paper, too, although that phrase 'on paper' is key, as they all have an error in them for sure. If they can avoid yet another collapse on the big stage, I think they'll be very difficult to stop and could have a similar campaign to the one which saw them fall agonisingly short in 2020, only this time going one better.