Champions League Playoff Matchday 1 Preview

Tuesday sees the UEFA Champions League proper begin, setting the stage for what promises to be another thrilling year in the competition. Eight matchdays will occur over the next five months to determine the 24 teams that will progress to the knockout stages.

Ahead of this week's action, here is a preview of the 18 games to transpire for matchweek 1.

Qualifying Duo, Former Winners Open Up Play

One of Tuesday's two early matches will pit together AEK Athens and LASK Linz, two teams that qualified via the playoff round to get to this point. This will be the Greek side's sixth appearance in the UCL proper, eight years on from their last showing. Having lost all six games in 2018/19, Dikéfalos will want to return to winning ways versus a LASK team making their debut in the competition proper. The match will be their first versus a side from Greece.

In Belgium, Club Brugge host Aston Villa two years on from Blauw-Zwart prevailing 1-0 during this stage. This is Club's ninth showing in the main rounds of the competition in the last 11 years, getting to the knockout phase in each of their last three attempts. All three of Villa's defeats in the UCL two years ago came on the road, where they failed to score in two of the three. The Villans are 3-1-3 against Belgian sides all-time, knocking the side from West Flanders out in the round of 16 in 2024/25.

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For the second year in a row, Borussia Dortmund welcome Villarreal to Germany, with The Yellow Submarine looking for a different outcome. Die Schwartgelben enjoyed a comfortable 4-0 win last November, a third successive victory over Spanish clubs. Villarreal lost seven of their eight league phase matches in the Champions League last term, making it the second time in their five showings they failed to grab a win.

Three years on from their most recent appearance, Porto are back among Europe's elite, but will start off with a tricky home match against Manchester City. Having won the Portuguese title last term, Dragões make their 28th UCL group phase voyage, making it to the round of 16 in their last two attempts. City, meanwhile, have never lost to their opponents in four previous head-to-heads (3-1-0). Against Portuguese sides altogether, the Cityzens are 6-3-2.

Lille and Real Betis square off in what will be a first-time meeting between the two teams. Les Dogues finished seventh in the 2024/25 league phase before losing to Dortmund in the round of 16. They won versus two Spanish sides during that run, and are currently on a four-game unbeaten run in such matches in the UCL (2-2-0). Betis' only other Champions League group phase showing came 21 years ago, where they finished third. Conference League finalists two years ago, Los Verdiblancos will be out to make a splash this fall.

Match of the Round: Real Madrid vs Internazionale

For matchday 1, the pick for match of the round is between two former winners in Real Madrid and Internazionale.

Record champions Real have the joint-most UCL group phase participations at 31, with this being their 30th year in a row playing in the competition. They have never been eliminated at the first hurdle, qualifying for the quarterfinals or better 22 times. Against Inter, they hold a 10-7 lead in the head-to-head (two draws), though they did lose the 1963/64 final to the Italian side.

Last season's Serie A champions are now among a group of 15 teams to have made this stage of the Champions League on 20 or more occasions. Having made the final in two of the last four editions, the Nerazzurri will be wanting to shake off the disappointment of last term's knockout round playoff elimination. They have lost their last four against Real, failing to score in three of those defeats.

Holders Start Three-Peat Challenge

After winning the last two editions of the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain once again begin their title defence. Making the trip to the French capital are Slovan Bratislava, who are looking for their first point in the main rounds after going 0-0-8 two years ago. The sides met in the Europa League 15 years ago, with Slovan claiming their only point of that season at home to Les Parisiens. The Slovak side have never won against French opposition in five previous attempts (0-2-3).

Barcelona and Feyenoord face off as part of the early games, with this being just the third meeting between the two storied clubs. The Catalans prevailed 3-0 on aggregate in the 1974/75 European Cup second round en route to the semifinals. It has been 11 years since Barca last won the UCL, with the club being among the favourites once more. After a dismal UEL campaign, Feyenoord strive to repeat their round of 16 showing from two years ago.

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The other early clash on Wednesday pits together Liverpool and Atlético Madrid. The pair are familiar enough with each other, with this being the 10th meeting in European club competition. Liverpool currently lead 4-3, winning the last three. In fact, the Reds have come out on top in each of their last four versus Spanish opponents. Atleti made the semifinals last term, their best showing in nine years. With that said, their last five trips to England have all ended in defeat, four coming in the last year.

Elsewhere, Sporting CP are set for a first-time meeting with Galatasaray. Leões finished second in Portugal in 2025/26, qualifying directly for the league phase thanks to titleholder rebalancing. The Portuguese outfit made it as far as the quarterfinals last spring before falling to Arsenal. It was also a strong performance from Galatasaray, who got out of the league phase and won their knockout round playoff tie. Champions in Süper Lig for the last four years, Aslanlar are up for what should be a challenging campaign both domestically and in Europe.

Napoli start their 10th UCL group phase campaign at home last season's finalists Arsenal. The Partenopei have not enjoyed much success in the competition, having never gone farther than the quarterfinals. Four of their nine appearances in the Champions League era saw their run conclude at the group stage/league phase. The Gunners, meanwhile, are coming off their best-ever season in the tournament, reaching their second final. They went unbeaten during their run, with a penalty shootout ultimately ending their run. Set to challenge for the trophy once again, the North London club will strive to continue their strong record against Napoli.

German side Stuttgart will commence their continental campaign against debutants Viking. Remarkably, Die Roten have a losing record versus Norwegian clubs, though all four previous games came against Molde. After narrowly missing out on the knockout stage in 2024/25, they will want make a return to the knockout phase 17 years on from their last success. Viking's playoff round win means they are Norway's fourth different side to play in the competition proper. They also made the trip to Germany in their other group stage appearance 21 years ago in the UEFA Cup, losing 2-0 to Hamburg.

New Names Enter the Fray

Two of the competition's new teams will make their debuts on Thursday. Como will be at home to RB Leipzig after a best-ever Serie A finish last term. Having already started off the new domestic season quite strong, I Lariani are hoping to make waves in their maiden European campaign. Leipzig were not involved in Europe during the 2025/26 season. They failed to make it out of the league phase two falls ago, winning just once in eight matches.

The other debutant, Sabah Baku, kick things off on the road against three-time winners Manchester United. There could not be greater contrast between the two sides as United being their 26th season in the group phase. The Red Devils finished bottom of their group back in 2023/24, a first for them since 2005/06. For Sabah, they did not exist the last time United were knocked out of Europe in the group phase. Celebrating their ninth birthday two days before the game, Bayquşlar are attempting one of the greatest upsets in the competition's history.

Fenerbahçe and AS Roma meet in one of the two early kickoffs on Thursday. Both teams have had to wait a fair bit of time before making it back to the UCL main rounds. For Fener, it took them 18 years and 10 participations in the qualifying rounds to finally get this far. Their 4-1-10 record against Italian teams does not give them reason for confidence ahead of the opener. For Roma, they were semifinalists in 2017/18, with their last showing being the year after that. Both of their previous UCL games versus Turkish opposition ended 1-1.

Two years on from their only other clash, PSV Eindhoven and Shakthar Donetsk meet again in the Netherlands. The Dutch champions won 3-2 that time as they got as far as the round of 16. They failed to progress from the league phase last time out, collecting eight points from as many games. Shakhtar played in the Conference League semifinals in May in what was a lengthy European run for the Pitmen. Despite eliminating AZ during in the last eight of the UECL, they have a rather poor 3-2-6 record versus Dutch teams.

Narrowly losing out in the semifinals in May, Bayern Munich begin their 30th UCL campaign at home to Nordic outfit Bodø/Glimt. Only once in the other 29 seasons have the Bavarians failed to negotiate this stage of the tournament. They have never lost to a Norwegian club in eight previous games (6-2-0). For Bodø, they were the darlings of last year's competition, going as far as the round of 16 before finally being beaten. They are the first club since Atalanta six years prior to make their first two appearances in the UCL proper in consecutive seasons.

Hoping to finally get past the group stage, Slavia Praha are up against RC Lens in their clash. The nine-time Czech First League winners earned three draws in the league phase last term, but failed to score five times as they finished 34th. In three of the last four years, once in each club competition, Slavia have been eliminated at this stage. Lens came second in Ligue 1 during the 2025/26 season, with their reward being a fourth showing in the UCL proper. Like Slavia, they have never gotten farther than the group stage/league phase, though they did finish second in their section back in 1998/99.