Real Madrid Beats Inter but Raises Questions in Champions League 2026-27 Opener

Three days, 36 teams and already plenty to talk about. The Champions League 2026-27 league phase kicked off, and between Tuesday and Thursday there were routs to satisfy every taste: Barcelona ran over Feyenoord with a resounding 5-1, PSG hung six on Slovan Bratislava, Bayern Munich posted a 5-0 win over Bodo/Glimt and Manchester United showed no mercy to Sabah FK (4-0). But, as usually happens on opening matchday, the most interesting storylines weren't the lopsided scorelines, they were the doubts left behind by the "big guns."

Let's start with Real Madrid, which beat Inter Milan 2-1 at the Bernabeu but in a way that invites caution. Jose Mourinho's side went up 2-0 and then suffered more than it should have, with Trent Alexander-Arnold still searching for his footing in midfield. Inter had 64 percent possession and more shots, though it ended up gifting the goals away through its own mistakes. The formula, once again, was the usual one: Thibaut Courtois turns into a wall between the posts while Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior handle business up front. It works, but it leaves the sense that Mourinho, newly arrived and with much of the squad returning late from the World Cup, still has work to do to find the right balance.

On the other side, Manchester City won 2-0 at Porto with Erling Haaland as the sole protagonist: he scored both goals and now has 59 goals in 59 Champions League matches, after becoming the fastest player to reach 50 goals in the competition's history. The problem is that City looks like a different team without him. The club spent roughly 450 million pounds this summer, but when Omar Marmoush left for Tottenham at the close of the transfer window, no natural replacement for the Norwegian was left in place. On top of that there's the debate over Gianluigi Donnarumma, who raised concerns with his footwork in Portugal, though, to be fair, he did keep a clean sheet.

Liverpool Struggles, but Gets the Points

At Anfield, Liverpool came from behind to beat Atletico Madrid 2-1, with Florian Wirtz flashing quality and Bradley Barcola making a strong impression in his first start. Andoni Iraola keeps building his vision and has now racked up eight goals in four matches, though defensive doubts remain along with questions about how to fit Dominik Szoboszlai and Wirtz into the same lineup.

Barcelona, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have that kind of problem for now. Raphinha was decisive once again with a superb solo effort and has now piled up eight goals in five matches wearing the blaugrana shirt, playing as a central striker following Robert Lewandowski's departure. Hansi Flick's side has won all five of its matches, with a goal difference of 22 scored to 3 conceded. The arrival of Rodri promises to add the control the team sometimes lacked last season.

His job is to prevent goals. If Donnarumma is City's biggest problem, then they're in a pretty good position.Gab Marcotti

Arsenal also picked up three points, though not without a struggle: the Gunners edged Napoli 1-0 thanks to a Martin Odegaard goal ten minutes from time. And Lens provided the shock of the matchday, coming from behind in the closing minutes to beat Slavia Prague 3-2. It's only the first matchday, but it's already clear that in this new league phase, nobody is giving anything away, not even the usual favorites.