Champions League play is returning as teams will do their best to unseat defending champions Real Madrid this season. In the switch to the league phase format, gone are individual groups and teams playing standard home and away fixtures but the unbalanced fixture set will provide some non-traditional powers with a chance to make it deeper in the competition than in seasons past. Of course, it wouldn’t be Champions League without ranking potential victors which is what the goal of this first edition of UCL Power rankings aims to do.
The traditional powers of Real Madrid and Manchester City are well known, but Barcelona and Bayern Munich could also be returning to the top tier of Europe’s elite as they rediscover their attacks. Let’s see how the 36 teams shake out:
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| Rank | Team | Analysis |
| 1 | Manchester City | The bottom line is as long as Erling Haaland is on the pitch, Manchester City will have a chance at winning a Champions League title. While he hasn’t always shown up in the biggest games for City, he does more than enough to get them there and that’s enough to top Power Rankings at this point. |
| 2 | Bayern Munich | Rediscovering their attack under Vincent Kompany, Bayern Munich is a team that no one will want to face. They still need to be tested by the world’s best sides but it’s hard to ask for a better start than how they’ve kicked off. |
| 3 | Barcelona | In almost the same situation as Bayern, Barcelona are enjoying life under Hansi Flick. Teenager Lamine Yamal is coming into his own and Robert Lewandoski seemingly doesn’t age. Depth is a concern in this side but their first XI is tough to stop. |
| 4 | Real Madrid | Los Blancos haven’t gotten off to an ideal start to the young season, but the second that Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior are able to click and interchange in the attack, Real Madrid will immediately jump to become the most dangerous team in the world. |
| 5 | Arsenal | Arsenal are one of the best teams in the world, but they’ve yet to prove that they have the upside of some of the sides ahead of them. If everything goes their way, the Gunners can win the Champions League, but what do they do as a backup plan? |
| 6 | Paris Saint-Germain | With Mbappe gone, the PSG attack has been about spreading the love. There’s no single key to attacking and that’s what makes them so dangerous. |
| 7 | Inter | When it comes down to the final teams remaining in Champions Leauge, Inter will be there, but Lautaro Martinez needs to take a step forward this season if the Italian side are to win the entire tournament. |
| 8 | Liverpool | So far the Arne Slot era has gotten off to a good start, but bringing on European soccer will test the Reds’ depth to see what they can do over the course of the season. |
| 9 | Juventus | While Juventus haven’t hit top gear under Thiago Motta yet, the defensive improvements will make them a tough out in European play. |
| 10 | Atletico Madrid | Another team that’s working on gelling after adding quite a few new faces, this isn’t the Atleti of old that will grind out defensive games, they want to hit you on the break and turn matches into shootouts whenever it’s possible. |
| 11 | Bayer Leverkusen | The undefeated streaks have come to an end, but that doesn’t mean that Leverkusen won’t be a threat, getting the experience of making the Europa League final under their belts last season will be critical to managing another European voyage. |
| 12 | Atalanta | There may be different faces under Gian Piero Gasperini, but this is a tested Atalanta side that won’t be an easy out for anyone. |
| 13 | Sporting Club Lisbon | Viktor Gyokeres has been unreal for Sporting and they were able to hold their team together while also keeping Ruben Amorim in charge as well. Watching Sporting will be a true test of where the Portuguese league is as a whole. |
| 14 | RB Leipzig | Champions League regulars now, it’s expected for the German side to be one of the last 16 teams standing, but can they break through to go further after attacker Dani Olmo left for Barca? |
| 15 | Benfica | Benfica is another side that has gone through a lot of change but will need Vangelis Pavlidis to start putting the ball in the back of the net regularly to avoid a repeat of last season’s disappointment. |
| 16 | Borussia Dortmund | New manager, new striker, same unknown style. Dortmund could finish inside the top ten or outside of the top 20 and neither would be surprising so 16 feels right. |
| 17 | Milan | This is Dortmund but worse. Milan have been mostly poor under Paulo Fonseca but their attack is also too good to count out of games. |
| 18 | PSV | PSV are becoming a Dutch power. Not able to be counted out of games, they’ll be a team that benefits greatly from the new format. |
| 19 | Lille | Monaco may be above Lille in the early Ligue 1 table, but it feels like Lille has more upside in Champions League play. This is the stage where we’re reaching teams who are mostly happy to be here. |
| 20 | Aston Villa | If Aston Villa can overcome depth concerns, they’re going to make this ranking look silly but so early on it’s hard to know if they can be trusted to manage UCL alongside Premier League play. Look at Newcastle United crashing out last in the group stage last season for an example. |
| 21 | Monaco | Monaco should make the knockouts boasting a stout defense and varied attackers but they also fall into the depth concern category. |
| 22 | Girona | Welcome to the Champions League, the reward is needing to replace multiple key attackers and get everyone up to speed quickly. Girona are doing well all things considered, but when they already had defensive issues, can they balance both while winning matches? |
| 23 | Bologna | Another team that was gutted upon making the Champions League and is even under new management. It’s hard to see Bologna making a deep run. |
| 24 | Brest | Scoring and conceding for fun, Brest games will be must watch affairs, but usually, fun teams don’t last long in this s competition. |
| 25 | VfB Stuttgart | See above. Enzo Millot and Chris Fulrich are must watch players. |
| 26 | Celtic | Dominating the Scottish Premiership again, Celtic needs to be able to translate that to competing in Europe. |
| 27 | Club Brugge | Brugge have the talent to be a surprise side in the tournament, but they’ll need to get a new gear out of Christos Tzolis to do it. |
| 28 | Dinamo Zagreb | Zagreb can put the ball in the back of the net, but for almost every team in this territory, they need to show that they can perform outside of their domestic league. There’s more pressure now since teams won’t drop down to the Europa League. |
| 29 | Crvena zvezda | Boasting one of the best homefield advantages in soccer, Crvena zvezda will get an upset or two but how will they perform on the road? |
| 30 | Sparta Praha | The Czech first division has improved with Sparta being one of three teams that are regulars in European play. This is one of the teams in this range who can pull a few surprises. |
| 31 | Slovan Bratislava | It’s a first time appearance for Slovan in the group stage of UCL play. Kicking off against Celtic will be a good test for if it will be a quick appearance or not in the tournament. |
| 32 | Shakhtar Donetsk | Still unable to play matches at their home stadium in Ukraine and struggling with transfers, this isn’t the Shakhtar who were regulars in the last 16 but that doesn’t mean that they won’t make things interesting. |
| 33 | RB Salzburg | Another fun team so you know where this is going, right back to Austria. |
| 34 | Young Boys | Young Boys can win a few games this season, so that’s a step forward. |
| 35 | Feyenoord | Without Arne Slot, Feyenoord is struggling. Outside of a European place in league play, more games is not what the doctor ordered. |
| 36 | SK Strum Graz | Someone had to come in last and while RB Salzburg may be a worse performing team domestically, their UCL experience provides them with a bump. |
KVSP