The Champions League schedule starts on Tuesday with an unusual storyline at the top of the competition: Paris St-Germain are trying to win the title for a third straight season. That is rare enough to feel almost unnatural in modern European football, and it immediately gives the league phase a clear centre of gravity before the tournament shifts into its more ruthless January-and-beyond stage.
For now, though, this opening stretch is about experimentation as much as elimination. The league phase gives clubs time to test structures, manage minutes and learn where they stand before the pressure tightens. PSG arrive as the team everyone else will measure themselves against, but even one of the most dominant recent sides in Europe is not being treated as untouchable by the experts.
Why the three-peat is such a difficult ask
Julien Laurens said he did not think PSG would make it three in a row, calling two straight titles already special and three straight “impossible” unless a team had Cristiano Ronaldo, which PSG do not. His broader view was more measured than dismissive: he expects PSG to be close and to reach at least the semi-finals, but not to complete the full run again. That is the key tension in this competition. PSG have the status of champions, but the history of the tournament suggests that sustaining that level is harder than reaching it in the first place.
The comparison that hangs over PSG is Real Madrid’s run from 2015-18, the last time a club won three Champions League titles in a row. That sets the scale of the challenge. It is not just about being the best team on paper, but about surviving the changing demands of a long campaign, where fine margins, injuries and matchups matter as much as raw talent.
The contenders beyond PSG
Guillem Balague was even more direct about the challengers. He said he did not fully believe in the Jose Mourinho-Real Madrid project and would instead back Bayern Munich and Arsenal to reach the final. When it comes to lifting the trophy, his pick was Arsenal, with the argument rooted in a simple idea: they have the best defence in Europe by far, and defence is what wins titles.
That assessment gives the league phase another layer of intrigue. Arsenal last reached the Champions League final in 2005-06, and last season they contested the final for the first time since then before losing to Barcelona. Their return to that stage showed how far they have come, but it also reminded everyone how difficult the final step remains. Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Manchester City also sit in the mix as the main teams being discussed by the experts, which is exactly what makes this opening week feel like the first real sorting of the field.
The format matters here because it gives us time to see which claims hold up. A team can look formidable in September and still be vulnerable by spring; another can build quietly and peak at the right moment. That is why the opening weeks are so useful. They do not decide the title, but they do reveal which teams have the balance, the defensive structure and the control to survive the harder months.
coverage begins with the tournament
The coverage builds alongside the competition. From Wednesday at 22:00, iPlayer and the Sport website and app will begin showing highlights of every Champions League game. One will air Champions League Match of the Day from 22:40 to 00:00, while Thursday brings another set of highlights at 22:00 and a Two highlights show at 22:30. The final itself is scheduled for 5 June next year in Madrid.
So the Champions League schedule does more than mark dates on a calendar. It sets up a long argument about whether PSG can do something few teams have ever managed, whether Arsenal can turn defensive strength into a European crown, and which of the heavyweights can stay standing when the competition stops being a league phase and starts becoming a test of nerve.
