The CL is back. Time for me to make some dubious predictions. I'm above .500, but barely. The matchups for the day look pretty easy to call, but with results going the way they are, who ever knows? Here's what I think.

Bayern over Rapid and Juve over Brugge. The gulf between the big clubs in this group and the makeweights is amazing.

Ajax over Sparta and Thun to draw Arsenal. Sparta are terrible. Arsenal are already through and will be playing some younger players. Thun are at home and would really like to take advantage of this opportunity to get some kind of result. Why shouldn't they?

Barca over Werder and Udinese over Pana. If Barca can play today the way they played over the weekend, Werder's defensive frailty will turn this game into a rout. I'm too confident in the other pick. I'll just see how it turns out.

Lille over Benfica and ManU to draw Villareal. In the Group of Mediocrity I think "home" field advantage is enough for Lille. I know that ManU put in a much better performance on Saturday than they had recently, but I still don't have a lot of confidence for their European prospects.

It's all there in black and white, now. Only time will tell the value of my predictions (I'm betting it's pretty low, though).