The Urban Pitch UEFA Champions League 2025-26 Preview | OneFootball

UEFA Champions League action is back. Will year two of the league phase era bring as much excitement as the first?

With the league phase draw in the books, the 2025 UEFA Champions League campaign is right on the horizon, and Urban Pitch is ready with your preview for this year’s tournament.

Last year, we kept you in the loop with in-depth round-by-round reviews, and we’re starting off the coverage early this year.

We’ll take you through everything you should be looking out for throughout the first round of this year’s competition, after the computer-generated fixtures have given us some potential bangers.

Top Storylines

The Final the World Wanted

The 2024 Champions League knockout phase saw both Barcelona and eventual champions PSG put scintillating performances time after time. The scriptwriters absolutely cooked because when the semifinals came around, these teams were on opposite ends of the draw, and a picture-book final was on the horizon.

Unfortunately for many, it was not meant to be, as Inter defeated the Blaugrana over two legendary legs and would go on to lose in a landslide to PSG in the final.

However, it seems like the script directors are back once again, and the two juggernauts will meet in the league stage of the 2025 Champions League on match week two. With the backdrop of this year’s Ballon d’Or hanging in the balance, Ousmanne Dembele and Lamine Yamal will go head-to-head, spearheading their sides in what could be a late knockout round preview.

Get your popcorn.

Special Homecomings

Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images

Football transfers always give us the potential to see iconic players in kits that, at one point, you never thought you’d see. This past summer was no exception, and we’ll see some of these massive stars go back to their old homes in returns that will vary from heartwarming to heated.

The biggest feel-good moment will likely come when Napoli travel to Manchester to take on City, and Kevin De Bruyne makes his return to the Etihad as arguably their greatest-ever player. Expect a rapturous ovation for the Belgian, but he won’t be the only one returning to Manchester. Reigning Serie A MVP Scott McTominay will face his old crosstown rivals for the first time since departing from Old Trafford.

From one end of the returning legend spectrum to the other, Liverpool will host Real Madrid on match week four in a 2022 UCL final rematch. But more poignantly, it’s a return to his boyhood club for Trent Alexander-Arnold. It’s no secret how fans at Anfield feel about their former starboy — they made their thoughts heard towards the end of last season when his potential move was just speculation — so it could be a hellacious atmosphere for the 26-year-old and a game that could turn fiery very quickly.

Big-Time Grudge Matches

There are so many huge matchups to look forward to in the league phase, and plenty of them have some heavy UCL history that comes with them.

Match week one sees Bayern host Chelsea at the Allianz, and Bavarian fans might still be wounded from the last meeting in this stadium, where Chelsea walked away with the UCL trophy at the death.

That’s by no means where it ends on the opening week: Liverpool will host Atletico Madrid at Anfield, looking to avenge their loss a half decade ago when Alvaro Morata’s 120th-minute winner sparked iconic celebrations in what was one of the biggest moments in football that year.

Lastly, the aforementioned homecoming of KDB to the Etihad is also taking place on the opening week, in what’s set to be one of the most highly anticipated match week ones in UCL history.

X-Factors

Kairat Almaty, the reigning champions of the Kazakhstan Premier League and the first-time entrants in the UEFA Champions League, are by far the most intriguing side in the tournament. They have two big fixtures one the schedule, closing out the league phase away at Arsenal, but the one that we are focusing on is Real Madrid at home in Kazakhstan.

Los Blancos will have a nearly 10-hour journey to Central Stadium in Almaty, which is about the same as a full transatlantic flight from the United States to Europe. It’s certain to have an effect on the four teams that will have to make the unreal journey.

Top Eight Prediction

With both the draw and the full schedule in place, we can come to you with our finalized predictions for the eight teams that will qualify automatically for the knockout stages.

Last season, teams like Juventus, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and eventually winners Paris Saint-Germain all missed out on top-eight automatic qualification, a fate that eventually led to both City and Juve dropping out at the playoff round.

Teams will be desperate this season to avoid the additional game, as well as the jeopardy that comes with the playoff round.

With that being said, I believe that the holders PSG will book their spot in the top eight this season. Alongside them, in no particular order, will be Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, and Napoli.

Manchester City have had a massively unconvincing start to this season, and with the difficulty of their schedule, I see both their Premier League rivals, Spurs, as well as Italian champions Napoli, beating them to the punch.

With just about two weeks left until the new UEFA Champions League campaign kicks off, we can’t wait to get started, and it’s set to be another thrilling year.