Who Will Win the Champions League? Europe’s Giants Make Their Case

The Champions League is back, bringing midweek chaos, dramatic collapses and managers discovering that a perfectly good league season can be ruined by one random Tuesday night.

The usual suspects are here, but nobody is arriving with a completely clean slate. Arsenal are looking like serious contenders, Barcelona are putting five past people for fun, PSG are somehow winless domestically, Real Madrid have already lost, and Bayern are doing their usual thing of making us wonder whether they actually want to win this competition. So, who will make a statement, and who is about to become content?

Premier League: Who’s Cooking?

Arsenal enter this campaign as one of the favourites after reaching last season’s UCL final and finally winning the Premier League.  The excuses have expired. Napoli are waiting on Wednesday to see if Arsenal are ready to go from nearly men to genuine European contenders.

Liverpool have a different problem. Salah is gone, Iraola is in and the transfer window are underwhelming. Atlético Madrid at Anfield will be a good first test.

Then there is Man City. Maresca has inherited a football team built by Pep Guardiola. Now Pep is gone, Rodri is gone and everyone will be watching to see if the new manager can keep the lights on. No pressure.

And Man United? They are back in the Champions League, but let us not get carried away. They would be lucky to make the knockout rounds. Sabah are up on Thursday.  

Spain: Aura vs Sauce

Real Madrid and the Champions League are basically an unhealthy relationship. No matter how badly things are going, Madrid somehow become a different animal when the music starts playing.

Mourinho is back, Mbappé and Vinícius are still there, and the squad has enough star power to fill several starting XIs. They also just lost 1–0 to Real Betis. Inter Milan visit the Bernabéu on Tuesday. If Madrid win, everything is fine. If they lose, the banter will feed the internet for a week.

Barcelona, meanwhile, are looking like the team nobody remembered to worry about. Flick’s side have won all four league matches, scoring five in three of them. Lamine Yamal and the attack are cooking and Rodri has joined the party. Feyenoord get the first chance to test that theory on Wednesday. 

PSG & Bayern: Make It Make Sense

PSG have lost a league game and are still waiting for their first Ligue 1 win. Normally, that would be a crisis.

But PSG have spent the last two seasons proving that domestic football is apparently just their pre-season. Their back-to-back Champions League-winning seasons really began in the knockout rounds, and Luis Enrique already knows how to peak when it matters. Slovan Bratislava are first up on Wednesday. Good luck to them.

Bayern are a different story. Kane, Olise, Kimmich and enough quality to make most clubs jealous, but their recent Champions League record has not exactly matched the size of their trophy cabinet. Bodø/Glimt are up on Thursday. 

Full Season Predictions

Favourite – Arsenal:  PL champions and last season’s finalists. The weekend win over Chelsea showed they can handle pressure. They look ready to go one step further.

Challenger – PSG: Winless domestically, yes. But two straight titles are difficult to argue with. They know exactly when to turn up.

Wildcard – Barcelona: Four wins, 17 goals and a team that looks increasingly comfortable under Flick. The hype might actually be justified this time.

Dark Horse – Bayern Munich: The squad is too good to ignore. If Kompany gets them clicking in Europe, they can go very deep.

Chaos Team – Man City: New Man ager, new era and a squad still packed with quality. They either struggle without Pep or make everyone look silly for doubting them.

Opening Week Highlights

Tuesday, 8 September

Club Brugge vs Aston Villa – 5:45 pm (SS Premier League, DStv Ch. 203, GOtv Ch. 65)

Porto vs Man City – 8:00 pm (SS Premier League, DStv Ch. 203, GOtv Ch. 65)

Real Madrid vs Inter Milan – 8:00 pm (SS Football Plus HD, DStv Ch. 202)

Wednesday, 9 September

Barcelona vs Feyenoord – 5:45 pm (SS Premier League, DStv Ch. 203, GOtv Ch. 65)

Napoli vs Arsenal – 8:00 pm (SS Premier League, DStv Ch. 203, GOtv Ch. 65)

Liverpool vs Atlético Madrid – 8:00 pm (SS Football Plus HD, DStv Ch. 202)

PSG vs Slovan Bratislava – 8:00 pm (SS La Liga, DStv Ch. 204, GOtv Ch. 62)

Thursday, 10 September

Fenerbahce vs Roma – 5:45 pm (SS Premier League, DStv Ch. 203, GOtv Ch. 65)

Bayern Munich vs Bodø/Glimt – 8:00 pm (SS Football Plus HD, DStv Ch. 202)

Man United vs Sabah – 8:00 pm (SS Premier League, DStv Ch. 203, GOtv Ch. 65)

Follow all the UCL Action Going on SuperSport

The Champions League kicks off Tuesday, 8 September, live on SuperSport on DStv and GOtv. Reconnect or upgrade to DStv Compact Plus or GOtv Supa+ to watch the biggest UCL games, or stream on both Stream apps with no dish or decoder needed. Just download the apps, sign up and start streaming.

Use MyDStv and MyGOtv to reconnect, upgrade or manage your subscription. New customers can get started with the current ₦15,000 offer, including a DStv HD decoder, dish kit and one-month Yanga subscription, or a GOtv decoder, antenna and one-month Jolli subscription.

Three nights. Europe’s biggest clubs. And plenty of people are about to get cooked.