provided you have appropriate satellite dish access. Here's a look at those 10 matches with pertinent broadcast times and network coverage.
Champions League on TV
Group A: FC Porto vs. Liverpool (2:30 p.m. ET, Tuesday, ESPN2)
The 2005 Champions League winners and 2007 finalists hope to begin another deep European run when Liverpool travels to FC Porto on Tuesday. Despite Liverpool's depth and strong start to the season, a win will be a trick at Estadio do Drago.
Porto has won all four Portuguese Liga matchups on the young season, outscoring their opponents 7-1. Add to that the failure of an English side to ever win at Porto -- including four 0-0 draws -- and the Reds would be most fortunate to escape with a win.
Moreover, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has his primary focus on domestic league play this season after disappointing finishes in recent campaigns. He's hoping not to overextend his resources in European play -- a Liverpool strength under Rafa -- so his team can stay in the EPL race. It will be a difficult balancing act.
Brazilian back Fabio Aurelio is available and could see action, but defender John Arne Riise will be out with a groin injury he suffered while playing for Norway last week. He didn't play in the 0-0 draw with Portsmouth and is doubtful for Liverpool's weekend matchup with Birmingham. Should he get the nod from Rafa, striker Fernando Torres, newly signed from Atletico Madrid, will make his European debut.
With Liverpool suffering just three losses in their last 16 European away matches and Porto so tough to score on at home, a 0-0 draw seems most likely, but the Reds are surely hoping for more.
Group B: Chelsea vs. Rosenborg (2:30 p.m. ET, Tuesday, Setanta)
Something has happened on the way to Chelsea's triumphant reign as the evil empire of football. The Blues failed in their bid for a third consecutive Premier League title and couldn't get past the semifinals of the Champions League last season. Now, with the team scuffling of late and having to deal with the Michael Ballack transfer distractions, Jose Mourinho's side have become the drama queens of the sport.
Amid heightened expectations of success in Europe, Chelsea enters play against Norwegian champion Rosenborg not in the best form. Denied a goal on a questionable offside call against Blackburn on Saturday, the Blues settled for a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge. In that game, their attack looked impotent without Didier Drogba (knee). Frank Lampard missed the match, too, and both will be absent again on Tuesday.
If Chelsea is to score their first goal in three matches, they'll probably need to get more accurate striking from befuddling Andriy Shevchenko, who finally played on Saturday but made his best contact of the day on Blackburn defender Christopher Samba's head, rather than any of his shots at goal.
Rosenborg, for their part, is a well-organized team with three good attackers, according to Mourinho. One suspects Rosenborg would gleefully skip back to Trondheim with a draw, so expect them to play a tight, defensive style with the occasional counter-attack. Rosenborg, which are in the middle of their Norwegian Eliteserien season, currently sit in a disappointing fifth place with just eight wins and 29 points in 20 matches.
Group C: Real Madrid vs. Werder Bremen (2:30 p.m. ET, Tuesday, ESPNDeportes)
The Spanish champions begin Champions League play against German side Werder Bremen. Bremen is in the group stage for the fourth consecutive year but will be decided underdogs against their stacked opponents.
Real are coming off a 3-1 win over UD Almeria on Sunday and are top of La Liga again with a 3-0 record and plus-eight goal differential. As if they needed additional enforcements, manager Bernd Shuster says that Dutch international and former Chelsea striker Arjen Robben is likely to make his Real debut on Tuesday. Real left back Gabriel Heinze, though, is questionable after leaving Sunday's game at halftime with a groin injury.
Bremen has been scuffling in Bundesliga play after finishing third last season. They currently sit 13th with seven points in five matches. One of their two losses on the season was an embarrassing 4-0 home defeat to Bayern Munich, and Thomas Schaaf's squad is coming off a 3-0 defeat Friday to Borussia Dortmund. (Bayern spends a rare season outside of Champions League play thanks to their poor finish in the Bundesliga last season.)
Schaaf has called the chance to face Real Madrid, who will be playing in their 300th match in Europe, "an absolute highlight." Chances are, however, that most of the highlights after kickoff will come from the Spanish champs.
Group E: FC Barcelona vs. Olympique Lyonnais (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPNDeportes; English broadcast at 5 p.m. ET on ESPNClassic)
A season removed from their 2006 Champions League title and last domestic league title, Barca has just one win in their first three La Liga matches to start the young season. After a scoreless draw against Osasuna on Sunday -- one that put Barca four points behind top-of-the-table Real Madrid -- Ronaldinho is hoping his squad will get over that disappointment to focus on French champion Lyon.
Lyon is not the same squad that have won the last six French championships, but they have won four in a row in Ligue 1, including a 5-1 win at Metz on Saturday. Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Tiago Mendes (Juventus) and Claudio Cacapa (Newcastle) are no longer playing for France's perennial titan. So, despite Barca's shaky form, they figure to have little trouble at home against this watered-down squad.
Barca was without Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi for the match with Osasuna and hope to have both for Wednesday's home match.
Group F: Sporting Lisbon vs. Manchester United (2:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday, ESPN2)
Manchester United faces its first crucial week of the season beginning with Wednesday's Champions League opener in Lisbon. They enter the first of these two encounters -- with Chelsea waiting on the weekend -- with far too many players on the trainer's table.
Owen Hargreaves, who won a Champions League title with Bayern in 2001, is out again with a thigh strain. Darren Fletcher and John O'Shea, both injured in UEFA Cup qualifying last week, will miss Wednesday's kickoff also. The biggest injury, though, is the cruciate damage to Mikael Silvestre's knee that he suffered at Everton in United's 1-0 win on Saturday. He's expected to miss the duration of the season.
Sporting will be without striker Derlei, who is suffering from a long-term knee problem. On the other side, striker Wayne Rooney appears fit and should play his first match since the Premier League opener.
Manchester United is surely one of the favorites in this competition, as Hargreaves has claimed, but Liverpool faces also holds for United, who will be tested to emerge from Portugal with three points.
Group H: Arsenal vs. Sevilla (2:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Setanta)
This may be the premier matchup of the first set of group stage matches. Sevilla has never played in the Champions League but has won the last two UEFA Cups, and many think they are a dark horse to win the cup. Sevilla coach Juande Ramos brings his high-scoring squad into Emirates Stadium in North London for an encounter with Arsenal, a true baptism by fire for the Champions League debutantes.
Arsenal sits top of the table in the EPL after three goals in a stunning second-half performance at Tottenham on Saturday. Arsenal appears to have missed little without the incomparable Thierry Henry, who departed this summer for FC Barcelona. Still, Arsene Wenger's side will have to prove its mettle in Europe after last season's disappointment exit to PSV Eindhoven in the round of 16.
Sevilla dismantled AEK Athens with a 6-1 aggregate showing in the last round of qualifying and has scored eight goals in their last two La Liga matches. Striker Luis Fabiano will add even more firepower to Sevilla, as he is among the 19 players in Ramos' traveling squad. Fabiano was second on Sevilla in La Liga goals last season.
Mali international Frederic Kanoute and Russian Alexander Kerzhakov each had two goals in a 4-1 win over Recreativo Huelva this weekend, and they, along with wing Daniel Alves, form the basis of Sevilla's attack. Captain Javi Navarro and striker Adriano Correia are out for Wednesday.
Wenger is convinced that Sevilla is among Europe's four or five best teams, and if he's right, Arsenal's fans should be witnesses to a thrilling match.
Champions League taped broadcasts (first airing)
Group C: Olympiacos vs. Lazio (2:30 p.m. ET, Tuesday; broadcast 12 a.m. ET, Wednesday, Setanta)
Olympiacos has won the Greek title 10 times in 11 seasons, but only one player, captain Predrag Djordjevic, remains from the only Olympiacos team to reach the knockout phase. That team lost to Juventus in the 1998-99 quarterfinals, and the Greek champs open up European play this season against another Serie A club, Lazio.
Lazio has three draws in Serie A action, include a pair of scoreless 90 minutes in their last two matches. They'll try to gain at least a point with their traditional Italian catenaccio defense. Olympiacos hasn't played since a scoreless draw with Panathinaikos on Sept. 2.
Group D: AC Milan vs. Benfica (2:30 p.m. ET, Tuesday; broadcast 8:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, Setanta)
AC Milan starts off its title defense at home against Portuguese mainstay Benfica. No team has repeated as European champs since the new incarnation of the Champions League in 1992-93, but Milan midfielder Massimo Ambrosini is hoping his club can reassert its former authority as Europe's premier side.
Benfica plays a possessing style that can frustrate opponents, but they'll have a hard time keeping the ball away from Milan's strong defense. 35-year-old Rui Costa, who played for Milan from 2001 to 2006, will be looking to duplicate his dramatics in qualifying. He scored two goals to help Benfica advance past FC Copenhagen.
Milan, of course, is led by Kaka, who scored 10 goals in Champions League last season, including the game-winner over ManU in the semifinal. Milan is coming off a mediocre effort against Siena, where they salvaged a point with a stoppage-time goal by Alessandro Nesta.
Benfica will be without midfielder Petit, who is sidelined for six weeks (and at least two Champions League matches) with ligament damage in his right knee, which he suffered in Benfica's 3-0 win on Saturday in domestic play.
Group E: Rangers vs. Stuttgart (2:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday, broadcast 11 a.m. ET, Friday, Setanta)
Rangers fell out of first in the Scottish Premier League with a 4-2 loss to Hearts on Saturday. They'll hope to rebound against scuffling Stuttgart, the defending Bundesliga champs.
Stuttgart is fourth from bottom thanks to just one win in four matches on the season, but Rangers manager Walter Smith is hardly taking the German side lightly, as he believes entering European play will ignite Stuttgart. Smith knows his Rangers have to be dominant at home to have a chance to advance through Group E, making this match's three points crucial for the Scottish side.
American international DaMarcus Beasley has three goals in eight games in his first season with Rangers, including a tally at Zeta in Champions League qualifying and one in the loss to Hearts.
Group G: Fenerbache vs. Inter Milan (2:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday; broadcast 10 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Setanta)
Inter midfielder Patrick Vieira will miss the matchup with the Turkish champs thanks to a thigh injury that he suffered in France's 1-0 loss to Scotland in UEFA Cup qualifying last week. He has been unable to train with Nerazzuri since.
The defending Serie A champs have two wins and a draw to show for their first three league matches, including a 2-0 win over Catania on Sunday. Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic has a pair of goals.
Fenerbahce is sitting near the middle of the Turkish Super Lig standings after five games with two wins and a draw. They have drawn 1-1 in each of their last two matches. Brazilian international Alex has a pair of goals this season for the home side.
Other Champions League matches (all kickoffs are 2:30 p.m. ET, home teams first):
Tuesday, Sept. 18:
Group A: Marseille vs. Besiktas
Group B: Schalke 04 vs. Valencia
Group D: Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Celtic
Wednesday, Sept. 19:
Group F: Roma vs. Dynamo Kiev
Group G: PSV Eindhoven vs. CSKA Moscow
Group H: Slavia Prague vs. Steaua Bucharest
Brendon Desrochers is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
