UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Season

[Dunamisx]

The first match of this season's Champions League has already taken place, and several big matches have already taken place. Eintracht Frankfurt won by a large margin, which has put them in first place in the standings. However, in this format, goal difference is crucial, as a mere loss in goal difference could prevent them from advancing to the next round. Furthermore, it won't be just one or two teams with the same points, but many. We saw this in last season's standings.

It is important for everyone of them to maintain this performance, because in subsequent matches, if they are unable to deliver much as expected could lead to a drop form their initial ranking position, i can see that PSG too is as well in the second place, if they do more, they can maintain the first position and take it from Eintracht Frankfurt, i also see a number of teams that have made it to this list, which shows that the beginning does not justify the end, but only a survival of the fittest.

[Amphenomenon]

Paris Saint-Germain's superb performance earned them the three points and allowed four goals against their opponent. Atalanta isn't looking as good as they used to. I didn't expect them to suffer such a devastating defeat. While I expected a maximum of two goals, the match ended with four. PSG was the dominant team throughout the match. It was a good victory.

How good is Atalanta defense by the?
The only thing that really amazed me is the fact that they couldn't get a goal.

Anyway, their attack is not really dangerous as it seems eith Ademola Lookman and since the transfer window didn't work in his favor, he will likely be back on the team, if he isn't back with them already now, but this sill definitely help them overall again.

[sana54210]

PSG have changed their club development strategies three seasons ago and began to gain success since the last season. They won UEFA Champions League title with magnificient tactics and many young players who potentially can grow up more and have a lot of time for contributions. Facing with Barcelona is big test, not only for PSG but also for Barcelona. They are both strong and ambitious clubs with a title as their target in this season, so beating a strong opponent in a direct match will be a solid verification of their quality this season.

Enrique can find good replacements for Dembélé and Doué but surely if these players won't be able to play, PSG will suffer big disadvantage and it reduces their chance of winning.

I would say that PSG is playing a style where they are not really doing anything that shocking, it's expected of them to do this, so it is not really that shocking. They moved away from "lets get all superstars", to "lets all play well together as a team", and that get them treble. If they were a bit luckier, they could have won CWC as well.

This is why it's clear that they are going to end up with some wins, and not going to have that much terrible results. It's clear that we are seeing them not have bad results, it's clear we are seeing them do fine. Not going to be that crazy, after all they are still a strong team, but playing "team" football instead of focusing on the stars allowed them to be good even when missing Dembele.

[Agbe]

PSG breakaway point was were they started prioritizing getting a good team that will be competitive which will play as a team which was better than a team full of super stars which was playing an individual football. Individual football was one of the main reason why PSG was not able to win the champions League before if the current system that PSG has they are going to be competing for the champions League for some seasons because they are playing as a team.

[Agbamoni]

Let me help you, squad depth apart from squad depth does Arsenal have any a clutch moment player? That one player that can come in and seize the moment when they need just that ONE goal to win a match. Does Arsenal have such a player? Every club no matter how good, usually has moments when they will play everything but no goal is forth coming and that's when that individual brilliance is needed. Does Arsenal have such a player? Don't worry, you will understand better when the season progresses. Like I said earlier, Arsenal has no business with the champions league trophy anytime soon, you can take it to the bank, I said so.

You and I know that Arsenal lacked depth last season, and at the same time, faced injury issues. This season, they are one team in the EPL that have the highest depth, all thanks to the Andrea Berta the new sporting director. I dont need to explain much, if only you watched the opening game of the UCL competition. That was Athletics Bilbao against Arsenal, you wont be asking me about players who turn up when the team needs it most. Martinelli and Trossard came into the game in the second half. It took Martinelli less than 66 seconds to score the leading goal and just in less than 6 minutes he gave the other substitute an assist to seal the win. Come up with a better point if your making an argument next time. Cheers !

Which only last season? Arsenal previously doesn't have it and let me remind you again, Liverpool and Chelsea has a better squad depth than Arsenal. Liverpool this season made sure to have a solid squad depth. I knew you would talk about that game Vs Bilbao and it's all good, they impressed. So in your head Martinelli is the guy that would turn up when it's critical, lol. There's no need for long talks on this issue, just mark it somewhere that I said this, Arsenal has no business with the Champions League and EPL trophy this season. When they are ready for it, we will know about it.

You know what we are going to do. First list the Liverpool players and Chelsea players, then ill list the Arsenal players for you. For every position, Arsenal has at least two players for that position, is that not squad depth, maybe your own definition of squad is different from the one we football fans know. Please be truthful in what you say and stop being a sentimental football fan. You can argue that Arsenal will not win the league but when you talk about squad depth, Arsenal has it this season. Your being sentimental bruh.

[silpersurfer]

The first match of this season's Champions League has already taken place, and several big matches have already taken place. Eintracht Frankfurt won by a large margin, which has put them in first place in the standings. However, in this format, goal difference is crucial, as a mere loss in goal difference could prevent them from advancing to the next round. Furthermore, it won't be just one or two teams with the same points, but many. We saw this in last season's standings.

The UCL has only been played for one match, so it's understandable that the current standings are very random, with underdog teams in the top five, except for PSG. Because the team that scores the most goals will be at the top, that top five position will change in subsequent matches. Even if they perform well in their first match, their position will naturally drop as the UCL progresses.

This isn't to underestimate teams like Frankfurt, Brugge, Sporting, and Union. But the reality is that they are often inconsistent in every match, especially in this UCL, where none of their opponents are easy. Regardless, winning their first match is crucial for boosting their confidence for the next match.

What was quite impressive was how the match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Galatasaray unfolded. When Galatasaray took the lead in the early minutes of the game, I thought it would be an easy win for Galatasaray, but I was wrong. Eintracht Frankfurt completely took control of the game and won a landslide victory over Galatasaray. Similarly, in the match between Club Brugge and AS Monaco, Club Brugge managed to secure a fairly easy victory. Meanwhile, in the match between Sporting CP and Kairat, it was not an impressive result at all, even though they managed to secure a landslide victory over Kairat. As for the result achieved by Gilloese against PSV Eindhoven, it was an extraordinary result because in this match, Gilloese managed to secure a decisive victory when PSV was playing as the home team.

[Mustang Shelby]

Impressive match day 1 from the champions league this season, unlikely table topper this first phase of the group stage. I didn't think Frankfurt would be ending the match week 1 on top of the table. Well it's only a matter of time before the table starts taking shape and the familiar teams will start moving up displacing teams like Frankfurt, Union Saint, Sporting etc.

Yes dear, it was a very impressive one indeed with loads of entertainment, just that most of the teams i had very high expectations on didn't really give their best on the first fixture, Chelsea, Napoli and Atletico Madrid for instance anyways i just hope they'll learn from this first match experience and do better in the next fixture, especially Chelsea.
 
 I'm really impressed with Frankfurt's performance i didn't expect them to score that much goals, anyways they should enjoy the top of the table for the mean time cause the bigger teams would still displace them like you said, anyways football is full of suprises, you'll be shocked to see Frankfurt still win their next fixture.

With this new format as we see in the last season when this was implemented you cant rest so much about the first games, for example PSV is now in a super dificult position after losing his "easy" game against USG, you think "well i have 7 more games to recover" but most of them are gonna be against super teams, so you can run thin.

Yes, teams that appear easy and have only one match quota due to the lack of replays face a major problem if they don't win. Their remaining matches are much more challenging. It will be the same for Galatasaray. All the fans who thought Frankfurt wouldn't be awarded three points are leaving their chances of qualifying to a miracle. Believe me, maybe it will happen.

[DaNNy001]

What exactly is Napoli lacking? A team that won the title last season and, just two seasons ago, played in the Champions League quarterfinals that’s not bad at all, right? They got that unlucky red card in the 20th minute and had to defend themselves. I guarantee the result wouldn’t have been the same if Di Lorenzo had been in the squad.

Napoli might have been able to avoid a loss if one of their players hadn't received a red card. I think any team would struggle in that situation, especially when facing Manchester City, who are known for always dominating possession. In any case, Napoli defeat is understandable, and you could say Manchester City was lucky to have capitalized on the opportunity perfectly.

However for me, Manchester City victory doesn't mean they are fully back to their best form. There are still 7 more matches in the League Phase, where Manchester City needs to perform consistently to secure full points to finish in the top eight of the standings. Meanwhile, Napoli still has a chance to bounce back in their next match.

The hype about Napoli winning that game was really high, even with that high odds that was given to them a lot of bettors were still able to risk it...sadly, that outcome wasn't what people expected...they couldn't even score a single goal, the red card contributed to their slow performance but still man city dominated the game...Even in their league they are not at the first position currently, the team were overrated

[slapper]

I didn't watch the PSG game, but I watched Barca vs Newcastle. I didn't watch the full minutes, but I can see a few glimpses where Newcastle threaten Barca in the first and second half. I think Barca is quite open in that game, while Newcastle underperformed their xG. If they're more clinical, I'm sure we can see a 2-2 or a 2-3 result. I think they'll have to improve their defense against PSG (which I'm sure they'll do). There's no way they'll face PSG with the same tactics or pressure against Newcastle. CMIIW.

This was Newcastle's home  match. Naturally , Newcastle's players were more confident at home. And Newcastle are not a weak team. Newcastle tried hard to break down Barcelona's defense. But in the end, Barcelona won the match 2-1. Newcastle was able to score their only goal in the 90th minute.

Barcelona's overall performance  was very organized. Even though it was an away match, Barcelona dominated the match. Barcelona's players had 65% ball possession. And Barcelona's players  were able to take a total of 19 shots. But I won't say that Newcastle performed badly. If Barcelona's defenders couldn't do well, barcelona had no chance of winning.

Barcelona will play against PSG at home in the next  match. Both teams have strong attacks. So I agree with you that Barcelona's defenders must play well if they want to win.

You say Barca "dominated" because of the 65% possession and 19 shots, but that's where the numbers lie to you. They were in possession of the ball, yes, but look at what Newcastle did with theirs: fewer shots, but twice as many big chances and a much higher on-target rate (6 out of 10 vs Barca 5 out of 19). That is efficiency. Frankly speaking, the game was decided by two factors: Rashford (2 goals on low-value shots) and Joan Garcicia (5 saves on 6). Should one of those slip, we are looking a draw at St. James. Possession will not be the safety blanket when we discuss PSG next. Flick had as many as 3 offsides in this match, compared to the 100+ they drew teams into the previous season. Hakimi and Dembele will eat that alive if the spacing is not corrected. To me, the organization of Barca is not the headline. It is their fragility once you scratch the surface

[Smartvirus]

Other players can get to that number if they stay consistent playing on the champions league for atleast 10 years just as Ronaldo was constantly playing. Players like Haaland are some of the players I think can be Abel to beat Ronaldo at some of his record on f he stays consistent for atleast 10 years playing at top level the same way Ronaldo was. With the high numbers of games that the champions league now has, some of those records are just a matter of time before someone breaks it. Neuer can also break it anytime soon if he plays most of the matches this season and advance to close to the finals.

Do you really think so, that a player like Haaland could come close to beating CR7’s UCL records?

Haaland has only played few seasons and his not being able to keep up with his goal scoring records of the first 2 seasons he joined Manchester City and Manchester City is but a shadow of what it once was.

CR7 played with the elite teams that remained consistent and dude is still playing. It’s most likely his records would stay for some good years before they get broken.

[Oluwa-btc]

The hype about Napoli winning that game was really high, even with that high odds that was given to them a lot of bettors were still able to risk it...sadly, that outcome wasn't what people expected...they couldn't even score a single goal, the red card contributed to their slow performance but still man city dominated the game...Even in their league they are not at the first position currently, the team were overrated

I won't say it was hype, I honestly thought they'd do that but, the thoughts I had wasn't what I saw happening. It's not time to feel bad about that game, now it is time  to build up for the next. I also thought, if it had not been the booking, they'd have had a better chance of sharing points with Manchester City. It was refreshing to see Kevin De Bruyne back at the Etihad stadium.

[Sandra_hakeem]

Chelsea winning might be possible because Barcelona has not been really stable in there game lately unlike last season but it is also possible that our prediction and thinking can be wrong but I think you should play what's in your mind regard.

The truth is I don't know what happened to Barcelona, ??all the players are there and all the players rested, apart from that they didn't go to the Club World Cup, so they should be at their best, if they are doing badly it's because they want to be doing badly, or maybe they already have an ego problem.

What's wrong with Barcelona?? Looks like most of you don't even watch these matches... You just wrote based on the strongest side of the debates of this thread.

For their last 4 meetings, twice in the UCL, another of which was the international champions cup and the match friendlies, Chelsea had an advantage over Barcelona. But let's not forget that the team wasn't in this current shape. Barcelona will never give in for a defeat this time around, but Stamford bridge is not an easy place to defeat Chelsea either.

[GiftedMAN]

Other players can get to that number if they stay consistent playing on the champions league for atleast 10 years just as Ronaldo was constantly playing. Players like Haaland are some of the players I think can be Abel to beat Ronaldo at some of his record on f he stays consistent for atleast 10 years playing at top level the same way Ronaldo was. With the high numbers of games that the champions league now has, some of those records are just a matter of time before someone breaks it. Neuer can also break it anytime soon if he plays most of the matches this season and advance to close to the finals.

Do you really think so, that a player like Haaland could come close to beating CR7’s UCL records?

Haaland has only played few seasons and his not being able to keep up with his goal scoring records of the first 2 seasons he joined Manchester City and Manchester City is but a shadow of what it once was.

CR7 played with the elite teams that remained consistent and dude is still playing. It’s most likely his records would stay for some good years before they get broken.

Let's be realistic Haaland can't maintain his fitness like Cristiano Ronaldo did over the years, at some point he'll get weaker, it's beginning to tell even quicker than we expected. The wonderful things Ronaldo is still doing at this age should make people realise that he's a great player and that legacy he's kept would last for a very long time maybe someone in the future might break that record but not Haaland, no i don't think it's him.

[MarjorieZimmermanGinger]

With this new format as we see in the last season when this was implemented you cant rest so much about the first games, for example PSV is now in a super dificult position after losing his "easy" game against USG, you think "well i have 7 more games to recover" but most of them are gonna be against super teams, so you can run thin.

The new format does make things a bit more difficult for teams competing in the Champions League. This isn't just for the smaller teams, as Manchester City, Real Madrid, and several other teams also struggled to qualify last season. PSV may still have seven games left in the group stage, but failing to secure points could actually make it difficult for them to advance. Many factors make the Champions League difficult to beat, and even some experienced teams have moments where they haven't been able to deliver much in a particular season, ultimately failing to progress further in the competition.

[Lidger]

In this case, we have to agree that Cristiano Ronaldo is far better than some other players, because since his era ended, almost no player has been able to win so many matches. Cristiano Ronaldo's record is still quite good, and perhaps Neuer has the most potential to approach that record because he's still actively playing. For some new players, it might be difficult to reach this record because the club's dominance is not nearly as strong as it once was. Neuer only needs 15 matches to match Cristiano Ronaldo's record, and although it's difficult, he's one of the most likely to equal it in the next few years.

Other players can get to that number if they stay consistent playing on the champions league for atleast 10 years just as Ronaldo was constantly playing. Players like Haaland are some of the players I think can be Abel to beat Ronaldo at some of his record on f he stays consistent for atleast 10 years playing at top level the same way Ronaldo was. With the high numbers of games that the champions league now has, some of those records are just a matter of time before someone breaks it. Neuer can also break it anytime soon if he plays most of the matches this season and advance to close to the finals.

To achieve a record like Cristiano Ronaldo, one must be a player like Cristiano Ronaldo and a player must be very strong physically. If we look at Cristiano Ronaldo's football career, Ronaldo has been out of the field due to injury for very little time. He is a strong player, that is why he has consistently ruled European football. Erling Haaland may have the potential to achieve like Ronaldo. Erling Haaland's injury probability is very low and he is a strong player, as well as his finishing skills, he has enough football skills. However, the way Ronaldo used to score free kicks, score goals with bicycle kicks and also score goals with his head, Erling Haaland must improve all those skills.
If Erling Haaland can score free kicks like Cristiano Ronaldo, then I think he can be like Ronaldo and touch Ronaldo's records.

[banana33]

In football unimaginable things do happen and happened in such a way we don't expect. In Barcelona unbelievable win against Newcastle united, Marcus rashford surprised the world by scoring two wonderful goals within the first 20minutes of the second half a performance he never displayed while he was I Manchester united for the past three years.

When Marcus Rashford joined Manchester united senior team in February 2016 scoring two goals in the Europa league against midtjylland and also featured in the premier league three days later against Arsenal, he had an excellent performance in Manchester united them but ran out of luck when Erik Ten hag took over power, the mystery behind his downfall that's what we can't tell but his performance depreciated deeply even before Amorim took over power and fail to get back on his fit until his game yesterday that surprised the world with a very good performance

but surely the environment where you are has a big influence on changing the motivations and performances of the player who until now was not happy and it was evident, then the club was not able to keep him in the team and this led him to leave and play with another club

[KTChampions]

Neuer and Muller is still very much active and will definitely break Ronaldo's record of most individual win in the competitions all time record either this season or next season. His been out of any European team for some years now and he still holds that record which I think is still incredibly great but sonner or later his going to be displaced by these two Bayern Munich great players.

You went a bit overboard about Mueller 
As for Neuer, let's do the math: there are seven games left in the group stage, two more in the round of 16 (we won't take into account the probability of Bayern reaching the round of 16 first, as that would mean not every group stage game is winnable), then two in the quarter-finals, two more in the semi-finals, and one in the final. That's a total of 14 if Bayern wins the Champions League and all their games (which is actually hard to imagine). But even in this ideal scenario, Neuer will need next season to break Ronaldo's record.

[m4r1o]

Barcelona was not “favored”

Just check out the odds, for some reason, the actually thought Newcastle had an upper hand. Maybe because Barcelona had a few players who were injured, but yes, bookmakers actually looked at Newcastle as the favorites. I didn't take a good look at the live odds before now, but this is just boring.... How could they think Newcastle were the favourite in that game when they already gave out their key players/goal scorer to Liverpool? They were only able to secure a spot to play in the champions league because they had a setup of players with a responsive version of play.

Unless it's just one of those tricky odds that casinos make to discourage people from considering Barca to win, that was trash from their ends.

I don't understand why bookmakers make mistakes like this, I wish there were more of them but this means giving a totally incorrect odds and allowing people to win easily, maybe they do it on purpose I don't know but this is very strange, Thinking that Barcelona is the underdog is crazy in my opinion

[Lillominato89]

In football unimaginable things do happen and happened in such a way we don't expect. In Barcelona unbelievable win against Newcastle united, Marcus rashford surprised the world by scoring two wonderful goals within the first 20minutes of the second half a performance he never displayed while he was I Manchester united for the past three years.

When Marcus Rashford joined Manchester united senior team in February 2016 scoring two goals in the Europa league against midtjylland and also featured in the premier league three days later against Arsenal, he had an excellent performance in Manchester united them but ran out of luck when Erik Ten hag took over power, the mystery behind his downfall that's what we can't tell but his performance depreciated deeply even before Amorim took over power and fail to get back on his fit until his game yesterday that surprised the world with a very good performance

but surely the environment where you are has a big influence on changing the motivations and performances of the player who until now was not happy and it was evident, then the club was not able to keep him in the team and this led him to leave and play with another club

Apparently, many players in Manchester do not find a favourable environment in which to express their abilities well. Marcus Rashford is not the first, nor the only one. Antony had the same problem. At Manchester, he did not express his qualities to the fullest, but at Betis, he seemed reborn.
So I assume that in the Manchester United dressing room, the conditions are not immediately there to put players at ease.

[Abbatty]

Barcelona was not “favored”

Just check out the odds, for some reason, the actually thought Newcastle had an upper hand. Maybe because Barcelona had a few players who were injured, but yes, bookmakers actually looked at Newcastle as the favorites. I didn't take a good look at the live odds before now, but this is just boring.... How could they think Newcastle were the favourite in that game when they already gave out their key players/goal scorer to Liverpool? They were only able to secure a spot to play in the champions league because they had a setup of players with a responsive version of play.

Unless it's just one of those tricky odds that casinos make to discourage people from considering Barca to win, that was trash from their ends.

I don't understand why bookmakers make mistakes like this, I wish there were more of them but this means giving a totally incorrect odds and allowing people to win easily, maybe they do it on purpose I don't know but this is very strange, Thinking that Barcelona is the underdog is crazy in my opinion

Well, maybe you didn’t watch the match but if you did you will see that Newcastle had more chances in that game than Barcelona only that they fail to covert them. Newcastle playing at home will always be a difficult game for Barcelona. Before that Marcus Rashford first goal Newcastle look more dangerous than Barcelona, I believe if they had scored first Barcelona would have struggled so much in that match.

The bookmakers knew exactly that Barcelona would struggled in that match, I don’t know how they do these thing but they always knows these things. So it not a mistake but circumstances Favoured Barcelona and that why they won at St. James park.