Champions League: Five key talking points for the 2026-27 season

This season’s league phase of the Champions League kicks off on Tuesday, with Real Madrid vs Inter Milan and Porto vs Man City among the standout games on the first evening.Two-time defending champions Paris Saint-Germain are looking to make it three in a row and are the team to beat. In last week’s draw, they were handed meetings with Barcelona, Manchester City and Aston Villa, among their eight matches in the league phase of this season’s Champions League.But several other teams fancy their chances of toppling the Parisians, including last year’s runners-up Arsenal, and Bayern Munich, who pushed PSG hard in the semifinal.Meanwhile, Barcelona will expect to be among the favourites, while archrivals Real Madrid – now led for the second time by Jose Mourinho – will hope their Galacticos can power them to a final being held in their city, albeit at Atletico Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium.Here are the main talking points ahead of the new campaign.PSG’s three-peat Champions League bidPSG are the reigning back-to-back European champions after beating Arsenal in May’s final, and Luis Enrique now has the chance to become only the second coach to win three straight Champions Leagues with t...