The 2024/25 Champions League has been reformed, UEFA has expanded to 36 teams, adopted the Switzerland round format, and under the new format, the major giants have to play two more games, and the difficulty of qualifying will be more unpredictable, so every game must be fully committed, and the 18 matches in the first round are divided into three days, and the upset may appear.
According to the new format, the 36 participating teams are divided into 4 pots, with a total of 9 teams in each bracket, and each team will play against two teams in each bracket with a total of 8 teams, 4 home and 4 away, and the top 8 teams with a total of points after 8 games will directly advance to the round of 16 knockout rounds, while the 16 teams from 9th to 24th will enter the play-offs, and the winner will advance to the round of 16 knockout rounds. In the six matches on the first day of the first round, Real Madrid 3-1 Stuttgart, Bayern 9-2 Dinamo Zagreb, Juventus 3-1 PSV Eindhoven, AC Milan 1-3 Liverpool, Juniors 0-3 Villa, Sporting Lisbon 2-0 Lille.
In the six matches tomorrow night, Manchester City and Inter Milan will be the focus of the matchup, Paris Saint-Germain will face La Liga dark horse Girona, and Dortmund will challenge Club Brugge away. In the early hours of September 20, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will play together in the final six matches. Barcelona will take on Monaco away, while Atletico Madrid host Bundesliga giants RB Leipzig. These games are unpredictable.
Over the past few seasons, Serie A and Bundesliga have performed very well in the Champions League, with Serie A and Bundesliga having the top two European results last season, so both Serie A and Bundesliga have five Champions League places this season. However, in the new season of the Champions League, it may be difficult for Serie A and Bundesliga teams to continue their hot performances. Among the five teams participating in the Champions League in Serie A, Bologna was the dark horse last season, but this season's squad has undergone drastic changes, and coach Motta has also left, and the first 4 rounds of Serie A only achieved 3 draws and 1 loss ranked 4th from the bottom.
In addition, Inter Milan in Serie A will play away against the Premier League champion Manchester City, in the 2022/23 Champions League final, Inter Milan lost to Manchester City and missed the championship, Manchester City won four consecutive wins in the Premier League in the new season, Haaland is even more firepower, scoring 9 goals in 4 games, so it is unlikely that Inter will win this game at the Etihad. Another Serie A team, Atalanta, will play another Premier League giant, Arsenal, so these Serie A teams could suffer a total defeat.
A total of 4 teams in Ligue 1 to participate in this season's Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain will sit at home to face La Liga dark horse Girona, Girona has repeatedly in recent seasons Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona three big teams to let the team down, with strong combat effectiveness, Paris may follow in the footsteps of the top three in the Western Super League, upset loss. Monaco is going to face Barcelona at home, Barcelona started the new season with five consecutive wins and is in good form, Monaco beat Barcelona in the Gamble Cup, and Barcelona is about revenge.
In addition, the dark horse of the French league Brest is going to play against the Graz storm, Brest has a record of 1 win and 3 losses in the new season in the French league, the state is average, the first time to compete in the Champions League, the game experience and strength make Brest not favored, so the French league is very likely to suffer a blow in the first round. Judging from the draw and schedule, in this season's Champions League, the Gunners Arsenal is very likely to become a dark horse team, among the eight opponents, Arsenal only has two giants, Paris and Inter, and the strength of the rest of the teams is average, so Arsenal may become the spoiler of the Champions League.