The two teams that competed in the quarter-finals last season, namely Benfica and Inter, will be in group D for this season's Champions League. Both will be accompanied by Salzburg and Real Sociedad, who are also newcomers this season. If we look at the competition in Group D, it is very likely that Inter will win the group and for the runners up it will be a battle for the other 3 teams. I'm not underestimating Benfica but Real Sociedad and Salzburg were also quite competent in domestic league competition last season so anything can still happen. It seems that group D will also be quite a surprising group and in my opinion the ones who will qualify for the next round are Inter and Real Sociedad.
Agree with you, it seems that Inter and Real Sociedad will try to attract attention, especially Real Sociedad whose existence cannot be underestimated. They can still show strong competition, especially in the UCL. Real Sociedad will be motivated. At least if you qualify as runner-up, that is quite an ordinary achievement. Benfica and RB Salzburg are also clearly clubs that are difficult to predict how Benfica and Inter will always be regular UCL clubs. However, for this season I tried to choose Inter and Real Sociedad as the favorite clubs in Group D.
I also think Inter will take first place. As for the second place I think it could be Benfica, but Salzburg also have the possibility to compete for that. The fact that Real Sociedad will not be able to compete in this group is a fact. That leaves three clubs that will fight for the first two places.