The Road to Champions League Glory Begins

The Champions League is back, and Europe’s biggest names have made their first moves. From Dortmund and Manchester City to Barcelona, Liverpool, PSG, Arsenal, Manchester United and Bayern Munich, here’s how the giants opened their 2026/27 campaigns.

Borussia Dortmund survived a five-goal thriller against Villarreal, coming away with a 3-2 win at Signal Iduna Park. After Renato Veiga’s own goal opened the scoring, Serhou Guirassy took over late in the game, scoring twice — including a penalty — to secure all three points for Dortmund.

Manchester City were more comfortable in their opener, beating Porto 2-0 away from home. After a dominant first half without a goal, Erling Haaland finally broke the deadlock after the break before adding a second in stoppage time. The brace took him to an incredible 59 goals in 59 Champions League appearances.

Barcelona made perhaps the loudest statement of the week, dismantling Feyenoord 5-1. Raphinha led the charge with a brace, while Karim Adeyemi, Lamine Yamal and Gabriel Jesus also found the net as Barça immediately showed their attacking firepower.

At Anfield, Liverpool had to fight back from behind against Atlético Madrid. Marcos Llorente put the visitors ahead, but Dominik Szoboszlai restored parity before Alexis Mac Allister’s long-range strike completed a 2-1 comeback. Szoboszlai’s all-around performance earned him Player of the Match honors.

Defending champions Paris Saint-Germain opened their title defense in emphatic fashion, crushing Slovan Bratislava 6-1. New signing Ferran Torres stole the spotlight with a hat-trick in his first Champions League appearance for PSG, while Ousmane Dembélé added two goals of his own.

And Arsenal began their campaign with perhaps the most hard-fought win of the six, edging Napoli 1-0 in Italy. After a cagey first half, captain Martin Ødegaard delivered the decisive moment in the 75th minute, finishing a slick team move with a shot off the inside of the post.

Manchester United also enjoyed a strong return to Europe’s biggest stage, cruising to a 4-0 victory over Sabah. Benjamin Šeško was among the scorers as United made their first Champions League appearance of the campaign count.

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich put on another dominant display, sweeping aside Bodø/Glimt 5-0. Michael Olise was the standout performer with a brace as Bayern’s attacking depth proved too much for the Norwegian side.

It’s only the beginning, but the first week has already set the tone for another unpredictable Champions League season. Young stars will look to announce themselves, veterans will once again prove their value, and underdogs will have their chances to shake up the European elite. If Matchday 1 is any indication, there’s plenty more to come.