12) Borussia Dortmund
Serhou Guirassy looks set to continue his fine goalscoring form, which will be vital to Dortmund’s hopes of going far in Europe. The Guinean striker ended as joint top scorer in last season’s competition, finishing with more goals than Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé.
Dortmund visit Juventus in their first fixture, with difficult away ties against Man City and Tottenham ahead.
11) Napoli
Last season’s Serie A champions will be aiming to make strides in Europe. Conte may have won the Scudetto with three different teams (Juventus, Inter and Napoli), but he is yet to even reach the Champions League semi-final with any team, let alone win the competition outright.
The addition of Kevin De Bruyne is a great bit of business. Rasmus Højlund on loan will be tasked with filling in for the injured Romelu Lukaku, whose goals were so decisive last season. Ballon d’Or nominee Scott McTominay has already opened his goalscoring account for the season, deployed as an unorthodox left midfielder to accommodate De Bruyne through the middle.
10) Atletico Madrid
Atletico have made a slow start to La Liga, but never write off a Simeone team – especially in Europe.
Atletico spent €176m in the summer, with Álex Baena the standout arrival. Simeone has an expensively assembled squad at his disposal, built around the strike partnership of an aging Antoine Griezemann and the world-class Julián Alvarez.
They were knocked out of last season’s competition in the last 16 by city rivals Real Madrid. This season, they’ve been given a difficult draw that includes visits to Anfield and the Emirates Stadium.
9) Inter
Inter were blown away in last season’s final by a rampant PSG, with Simone Inzaghi stepping down just days later. Christian Chivu was a popular appointment, but lacks managerial experience in the Champions League.
The goals of Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram up top will once again be vital for an Inter side looking to go one better than last season.
Manuel Akanji slots in to replace Benjamin Pavard, forming a solid back three with Francesco Acerbi and the world-class Alessandro Bastoni in front of Swiss stopper Yann Sommer.
With a difficult middle run of fixtures, Inter will be looking to pick up maximum points in their first four fixtures of Ajax, Slavia Prague, Union Saint-Gilloise and Kairat Almaty.
8) Chelsea
Last season was a strange one for Chelsea. They won the Conference League and Club World Cup, whilst also securing a top four finish in the Premier League. Yet it didn’t feel like an overly successful season, especially not by Chelsea’s high standards.
With 24 arrivals and 26 departures, Chelsea were as active as ever in the summer transfer market. João Pedro has settled into life at Stamford Bridge quickly, as has young starlet Estêvão.
Maresca certainly has the squad numbers to handle the demands of competing in multiple competitions, but it remains to be seen how well such a large squad can be rotated.
Their opener away to Bayern looks to be one of the standout ties of the first gameweek.
7) Man City
City’s slump was well-documented in 2024/25. Possibly the most humiliating and surprising collapse was against Feyenoord in the Champions League. City gave up a 3-0 lead at home with less than 20 minutes left on the clock. Nobody could quite believe what they were seeing.
New blood has been introduced to the City squad, most notably Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Rayan Cherki and Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Rodri is back fit, and the goals keep coming for Erling Haaland. No team will fancy a fixture against this City side, but they aren’t the unstoppable juggernaut they once were. Their high line can be punished, as Spurs did to devastating effect earlier in the Premier League season.
6) Bayern
Harry Kane has a taste for silverware and will be keen to add a Champions League winners medal to his trophy cabinet. His goals fired Bayern back to Bundesliga glory last season, but couldn’t help the Bavarians to overcome Inter in the quarter-finals.
Luis Díaz has hit the ground running in the league, with 3 goals and 2 assists. If the Colombian, along with Michael Olise, Nicolas Jackson and Serge Gnabry can share the goalscoring burden with Kane, Bayern should go far in this season’s competition.
Vincent Kompany lacks the managerial experience of some of the other elite coaches, which could prove to be Bayern’s downfall as they seek to progress through the latter stages of the knock-outs.
5) Liverpool
Liverpool topped last season’s group stage but were knocked out in the last 16 on penalties to the eventual winners PSG.
The Premier League champions spent big over the summer and are yet to drop points in the league, but they’ve yet to hit form. Isak will be a great addition into an already stacked forward line, but question marks remain over Liverpool’s defensive solidity. They conceded twice against Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Newcastle, with much stronger tests awaiting in Europe. Knock-out phases often favour strong defences; Arne Slot will be relying upon pure attacking firepower.
4) Arsenal
Liverpool might be more likely to win the Premier League, but Arsenal’s rock solid defence will serve them well in the knockout phase of the Champions League.
Arteta claimed there was no better team in last season’s Champions League than Arsenal, a bold claim given they’d just lost both semi-final legs against PSG. But with the smart additions of Martín Zubimendi, Eberechi Eze, Viktor Gyökeres, Noni Madueke and Cristhian Mosquera, Arsenal have both the world class talent and depth required to win Europe’s top club prize this time around. They should progress through the initial league stage with little difficulty.
3) Real Madrid
Last season was poor for Real Madrid as they failed to win a major trophy and lost four times to arch rivals Barcelona. Ancelotti is gone, replaced by club legend Xabi Alonso who arrives with high expectations following a very successful tenure at Bayer Leverkusen.
Club stalwarts Luka Modrić and Lucas Vázquez were among those who left. Trent Alexander-Arnold completed his long-awaited move but has yet to cement a starting role over Dani Carvajal. Alonso prioritised the arrival of promising youth with the signings of Dean Huijsen, Álvaro Carreras and Franco Mastantuono.
Much of Madrid’s hopes rest upon the best player in the world – Kylian Mbappé. Alonso’s preferred 4-2-3-1 appears to be getting the best out of the Frenchman whilst also giving Vinícius Júnior the space to thrive. The Brazilian had struggled to adapt to the arrival of Mbappé under Ancelotti, with both players keen to exploit the same areas. If Jude Bellingham can be reintroduced without disrupting the balance, Real will pose a serious threat.
2) Barcelona
Barcelona’s high-risk attacking game came back to bite them against Inter in last season’s semi-finals. Hansi Flick’s men scored 3 in both legs, but conceded 7 as they went crashing out in an all-time classic.
A relatively quiet transfer window saw Joan García arrive as the new man between the sticks, with an out-of-form Marcus Rashford arriving from Manchester United. The English forward is no stranger to big European nights; his versatility across all of the forward line will prove invaluable.
If Lamine Yamal and Pedri stay fit, Barcelona have two world-class talents who would walk into any starting eleven on the planet. Their talent, combined with Flick’s attacking philosophy ensures Barca will remain the best team to watch throughout the tournament.
1) PSG
Having only just won their first Champions League trophy, PSG have the elite squad required to retain their European crown.
Enrique made a bold decision to replace Gianluigi Donnarumma with Lucas Chevalier, opting to move away from the “older-style goalkeeper” and towards one more comfortable in possession. Donnarumma is on par with Thibaut Courtois as the best shot-stopper and big game keeper in world football, but Chevalier has been brought in to add a new dimension to PSG’s build-up play with the ball. It’s a risky move, and one that will only be properly put to the test towards the tailend of the knockout stages.
PSG should have sufficient attacking depth to cover the early injuries to Désiré Doué and Ousmane Dembéle. Bradley Barcola has picked up the goalscoring baton in Ligue 1, with 3 in 4 so far.
Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes are the best full-back partnership in Europe, just as João Neves, Vitinha and Fabián Ruiz are the most effective, balanced midfield trio.
One of PSG’s greatest assets is a comparatively weaker domestic league compared to many of their European rivals, providing ample opportunity to rest key players between Champions League games.
PSG remains the team to beat.
