Chelsea's World Cup winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari becomes the latest to try to guide the rich London club to European club football's big prize on Tuesday when the Champions League groups stages kick off. The Brazilian's first challenge as he makes takes his bow in the competition will be to negotiate a path through Group A which includes opening opponents Girondins Bordeaux, Roma and Romanian outsider CFR Cluj. The Romanians are one of two clubs making their debut in the competition on Tuesday with Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta in Group B action at German Bundesliga runners-up Werder Bremen. Champions League heavyweights Barcelona, Inter Milan and Liverpool also begin their campaigns on Tuesday. Barca, losing semifinalists last season, host Sporting Lisbon in Group C, Jose Mourinho's Inter is at Panathinaikos and Liverpool, fresh from a morale-boosting victory over European champion Manchester United, travels to southern France to play Olympique Marseille. Another standout fixture is PSV Eindhoven's home Group D encounter with Atletico Madrid. Scolari has enjoyed an impressive start since taking over from Avram Grant at Chelsea and his side sit top of the Premier League after a 3-1 defeat of Manchester City on Saturday. The wily Brazilian, who guided his country to the 2002 World title before a furthering his reputation as Portugal coach, hopes to take Chelsea one small step further than last season when it suffered a painful penalty shoot-out defeat by Manchester United in the final in Moscow. Russian owner Roman Abramovich craves the Champions League trophy more than anything else and three managers, Claudio Ranieri, Mourinho and Grant, have been sent packing by the oil tycoon for not delivering. Despite the daunting challenge he faces Scolari is keeping things in perspective. “The pressure for me and the players is not only for the Champions League. It is for the FA Cup, the Carling Cup and the Premier League,” he was quoted in media this week. Chelsea will have to do without midfield enforcer Michael Essien who has a knee injury, although striker Didier Drogba will be available after returning from a knee injury to come on as a substitute against Manchester City. Bordeaux has begun the new campaign poorly and struggled to a 1-1 draw against Marseille on Saturday. Famagusta will travel to Werder Bremen confident it can compete in a group that contains Inter Milan and Panathinaikos after putting out Olympiakos to qualify for t __
