The best football in Europe is finally back! The 72nd edition of the European Cup/Champions League is getting under way, and the third since the competition underwent its latest revamp – the moment we got a proper league of elite clubs. Whether you like it or not, the new format has certainly brought us more clashes between the best teams during the opening phase. We will soon get to watch Real Madrid take on Inter and Arsenal, defending European champions Paris Saint-Germain face Barcelona and Manchester City, Bayern go up against Arsenal, Manchester United and Atletico Madrid, Liverpool meet Inter and Atletico, Roma face Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United and Real Madrid… And that is just a taste of this year's feast. The first matches of this new edition of Europe's premier club competition are scheduled for today, tomorrow and on Thursday. The league phase ends on 27 January, the play-offs are scheduled to begin in mid-February, while the final will be played on 5 June at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid.Champions League: All the league phase fixtures for 2026/27 👇https://t.co/HVnJMfI7QI#UCL pic.twitter.com/DR4yxxDdWd— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2026 When a team wins the competition twice in a row, it has to be a favorite for the third time. And while some bookies and Opta computer don’t think so, PSG has a chance to do what Real did with Zinedine Zidane as coach (2016-2018). Their two consecutive titles alone make that expectation perfectly reasonable, but so does the quality of Enrique's squad, which has remained largely intact during this transfer window, while also gaining greater depth. The club also made an enormous profit of 182,000,000 euros – a record for Paris – but Enrique himself can hardly complain. Most of those who left the Parc des Princes were essentially squad players. Some did have significant roles, most notably Bradley Barcola, who took 21 goals and 21 assists from last season with him to Liverpool, but the Parisians as still strong as ever. Their slow start in this competition is already well documented. Over the previous two seasons, they finished the league phase of the Champions League in 15th and then 11th place, only to steamroll everyone afterwards. Once they get rolling, they are as unstoppable. This team has everything required to climb back to the throne. The only question is whether all those recent successes have buried that ambition somewhere inside them, or whether they can still dig it out.Gunners stage a comeback to defeat ChelseaOpta's computer actually says Arsenal are the favourites to win the Champions League, giving them a 21.2 percent chance. And many may disagree that Mikel Arteta's team are, on paper, closer to the trophy than Bayern, defending champions Paris Saint-Germain, or the Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona. Their squad may be less glamorous and not quite as star-studded, but for quite some time now, there has been no one better at defending at both English and European level than the Gunners. On top of that, Bruno Guimaraes arrived at the Emirates as the club's marquee signing. In other words, Arsenal are entering yet another Champions League title challenge with, arguably, the most physically dominant midfield pairing in Europe.Where are you watching the Champions League? 🌍@Hublot | #UCLkickoffs pic.twitter.com/sVvUNyw3cm— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 8, 2026 With the attacking firepower Bayern Munich possess in the quartet of Michael Olise – Jamal Musiala – Luis Díaz – Harry Kane, the only team that could probably match them is Paris Saint-Germain with their trident of Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Barcelona could perhaps make a case as well with Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Gordon. To be fair, Real Madrid certainly have the names to compete with them, but let's wait and see how Yan Diomande fits in alongside Kylian Mbappe and Vinícius Junior, especially when the level rises above what he has experienced at RB Leipzig and in the Bundesliga. The German champions have two leading Ballon d'Or contenders in their ranks, and given their ridiculous numbers, that probably tells you everything you need to know about the attacking force Vincent Kompany has at his disposal. This is quite literally “nuclear weaponry”. The arrivals of Ismael Saibari and Nathaniel Brown have added another 'dose' of the tactical flexibility that Kompany insists upon so strongly. In Munich, they are convinced the Moroccan can be equally effective as a number 10, on either wing, and even as a number nine, providing cover for Kane.Finally: Barca sign RodriBarcelona look formidable under Hansi Flick, and their fans believe that, in his third season in charge, it is finally time to break beyond the domestic stage. Two La Liga titles are fantastic, but the Champions League has been missing for more than a decade – since 2015. The entire football world had been hoping for a Barcelona–Paris Saint-Germain final two years ago, but Inter unexpectedly tripped up the Catalans one step before the final and denied us the mouth-watering clash everyone wanted. Last season, Atletico Madrid knocked them out in the quarter-finals. Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford have left, but the attack has been replenished with Anthony Gordon, Karim Adeyemi and Gabriel Jesus. The biggest star of the transfer window, however, is Rodri. The brilliant midfielder had been expected to join Real Madrid, but a sudden twist saw him end up at Barcelona for 60,000,000 euros. It will not be easy at all for Flick to distribute playing time among everyone, particularly when it comes to his attacking options. The German will have no fewer headaches when it comes to the central midfield positions. If everyone stays fit, there will be plenty of competition, but the season is long, so occasional rest will certainly do Rodri good. Hansi Flick knows how to win the Champions League, which is precisely why he was brought to Barcelona two years ago. He won it with Bayern Munich in 2020. The German is expected to be just as ruthless with their club. Joan Laporta has strengthened his squad this August with players capable of meeting Flick's demands. And that demand is simple: never take your foot off the gas for the entire 90 minutes.UCL draw: Derbies, derbies, derbies… Favorable path for United and LiverpoolReal Madrid should be the embodiment this season of an emboldened president, Florentino Perez, who has been given several more years at the helm, his chosen man – Jose Mourinho, who, unlike some of his predecessors, enjoys his boss's complete trust – and all the problems that have carried over from last season. After the opening three rounds, initial scepticism gave way to euphoria, only for a few ghosts from the past to resurface following the defeat to Betis. It is still difficult to say whether we are witnessing a renaissance or whether Real will slip back into last season's pattern… On the pitch, two major questions need answering: who will pull the strings in midfield, and will Mourinho be able to overcome the untouchable status of certain individuals when it starts hurting the team? It is often said that Mourinho is the only coach Florentino Perez trusts unconditionally. It is still unclear whether ‘Mourinho 2.0’ is a wolf in sheep's clothing or whether he has genuinely become a calmer, more measured person. There are enough arguments to support either version.False 10: What’s the plan Citizens?While Manchester City fans had grown accustomed in recent years to stability and carefully planned refreshes, this summer brought a seismic shift of historic proportions and absolute madness that has completely altered the DNA of the club from the Etihad. The departure of Pep Guardiola after 10 years marked the end of a golden era, and the club's hierarchy handed the keys to the new project to Enzo Maresca. The Citizens were the undisputed kings of the June transfer market, splashing a staggering 526,000,000 euros on new signings. Enzo Maresca The Italian coach has been handed an eye-wateringly expensive squad packed with new, hungry stars who must immediately justify the hundreds of millions invested in them. The main cog in midfield is Enzo Fernández, who arrived for 145,000,000 euros as the most expensive signing of the entire 2026 transfer window. Alongside the Argentine, Maresca refreshed the midfield with Elliot Anderson while Moroccan wonderkid Ayoub Bouaddi is expected to become Rodri's long-term replacement. Creativity and penetration will come from the fantastic dribbler, Senegalese winger Iliman Ndiaye. City enter the new season under enormous pressure on the international stage, because this new, exorbitantly expensive machine is immediately expected to challenge for the European crown after two consecutive exits before the quarter-finals. Their eight-match league-phase schedule contains several hugely attractive and difficult tests that will immediately put Maresca's tactical philosophy under the microscope.Serie A begins: Can anyone stop Inter?When Cristian Chivu took over Inter from Simone Inzaghi, many doubted a coach with little serious experience of managing clubs on his own before arriving at the Meazza. However, last season showed that Inter had become such a dominant and powerful machine in Italy that even with a relatively inexperienced Romanian coach, they comfortably and without any real stress defended their Serie A title. Domestic dominance in Italy is already taken for granted and has become the standard, but things looked completely different on the international stage. Inter achieved nothing of note in the Champions League under Chivu; in fact, they suffered a European shock when Bodo/Glimt eliminated them 5:2 on aggregate in the play-off for the round of 16. That is precisely why this season represents such a major test of maturity. Chivu is not merely expected to continue winning the Scudetto – above all, he needs to deliver a much better and more serious result among Europe's elite and prove that this team can bring down the continent's biggest heavyweights. Inter face an extremely attractive and demanding eight-match league-phase schedule. The spectacle begins on the very first matchday tonight, when the Nerazzurri visit Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. In addition to that trip, the Italian champions will have to travel to Borussia Dortmund, Feyenoord and Slovan Bratislava. At home, meanwhile, they will host Liverpool, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk and Stuttgart.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUEROUND 1Tuesday19.45: (1.75) AEK (3.90) LASK (4.50) 22.00: (1.75) Dortmund (4.00) Villareal (4.20) 22.00: (2.30) Lille (3.40) Betis (3.10) 22.00: (1.60) Real Madrid (4.40) Inter (5.00) Wednesday19.45: (1.08) Barcelona (13.0) Feyenoord (20.0) 19.45: (1.23) Stuttgart (6.75) Viking (11.0) 22.00: (1.75) Liverpool (3.90) Atl.Madrid (4.50) 22.00: (4.90) Napoli (3.60) Arsenal (1.75) 22.00: (1.05) PSG (14.0) Slovan B. (35.0) 22.00: (1.90) Sporting (3.50) Galatasaray (4.10) Thursday19.45: (3.15) Fenerbahce (3.45) Roma (2.25)19.45: (1.43) PSV (4.60) Shakhtar (7.25)22.00: (1.10) Bayern (10.0) Bodo (16.0)22.00: (1.95) Como (3.50) RB Leipzig (3.90) 22.00: (1.10) Man.Utd. (11.0) Sabah (18.0) 22.00: (2.60) Slavia Praha (3.35) Lens (2.70)**** odds are subject to change