The UEFA Champions League league phase makes its return this season with a new lineup and competitive structure.
A total of 36 clubs, including major European sides such as Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Manchester City, and Juventus, are set to battle it out in this stage for a spot in the knockout rounds over the coming months.
At the end of the league phase, the top eight teams will move directly into the Round of 16.
Teams that place 25th and lower will be eliminated from the competition entirely, with no opportunity to drop into the UEFA Europa League.
Meanwhile, those finishing between 9th and 24th will enter a two-legged knockout play-off round. The winners of these ties will then meet the top eight finishers from the league phase in the last-16 for a chance to reach the quarter-finals.
Paris Saint-Germain enter this campaign as the defending champions, having lifted the trophy last season.
The French club cruised past Inter Milan in a dominant 5-0 victory at the Allianz Arena in the final. On their road to glory, PSG also knocked out Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Arsenal in earlier knockout rounds before dismantling Inter in the finale.
Interestingly, the Ligue 1 side had a rocky start to last season’s tournament, only finishing 15th in the league phase.
That result forced them into the knockout play-off stage, which they successfully navigated, ultimately going on to win the competition.
This season’s league matches will kick off this week, with fixtures scheduled across Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Among the matchups: PSG will face Atalanta at the Parc des Princes; Bayern Munich welcome Chelsea; Athletic Bilbao take on Arsenal; Real Madrid host Marseille; Manchester City go up against Napoli; and Liverpool meet Atletico Madrid at Anfield, along with several other exciting ties.
A respected Lagos-based journalist, Femi Fabunmi, shared his views on Monday, emphasizing that “determination and focus helped PSG to win their first Champions League last season.”
He also noted that “the period of the knockout-phase play-off helped the French Ligue 1 giants to gain its balance, after finishing below the top eight teams in the league phase table.”
“Any team who manages to finish in the top eight and qualify [for the Round of 16] has ample time to restructure and reshape,” Fabunmi told reporters.
“The period of the knockout-phase play-off stage helped PSG gain its balance and that helped them last season.
“However, this is not cast in stone but it does help any team who is determined and focused. This is what happened to PSG last season and they ended up winning the Champions League for the first time in their history,” he said.
When asked to pick the favourite teams that could win the Champions League this season, Fabunmi named seven clubs.
He said: “This season, Liverpool, Barcelona, Napoli, Juventus, PSG, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are all favourites to do so.”
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