Watching Manchester City’s humbling of Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final two it was easy to assume changing of the guard at the summit of European football had finally arrived.
Pep Guardiola’s side thrashed the holders 4-0 in the second leg in Manchester — one of the key results on the way to their historic treble — to suggest the combined might of the Premier League and City’s Abu Dhabi ownership was ushering in a new era.
And yet, 16 months later, Real begin another Champions League campaign at home to Stuttgart tonight as the holders and favourites for a seventh crown in 12 years. The competition’s format may have changed but Real’s status remains the same.
Since squeaking past City on penalties in the last-eight and beating Dortmund in last season’s inal at Wembley, Real have lost midfield metronome Toni Kroos to retirement but added the best player in the world to their attack in Kylian Mbappe.
The France striker will be shadowed by Brazilian prodigy Endrick, 18, leaving coach Carlo Ancelotti with largely the same canny squad but considerably more firepower up-front.
Real’s modern dominance of the Champions League has been as much about pedigree and heritage as talent, their remarkable comebacks long feeling like a self-fulfilling prophecy, exemplified again by their dramatic turnaround to beat Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich in last season’s quarter-final.
With Mbappe leading the line, however, Real arguably have the strongest side on paper, too, as they aim for a 16th European Cup, and sixth for Ancelotti.
City, who host Inter Milan in a replay of the 2023 final tomorrow night, can be expected to be Real’s biggest challengers again, with Erling Haaland one of the few elite players in the world to have had a summer off and looking all the more frightening for it.
City have the depth, the quality and the know-how to go deep again, and the players are motivated by knocking Real off their perch following last season’s frustrating loss on penalties and securing a fourth European Cup for Guardiola in what could be the Catalan’s final season at the club.
Arsenal’s priority is more likely to be challenging City domestically but Mikel Arteta will hope his side have grown in the competition following last season’s narrow defeat by Bayern in the quarter-final.
It often takes a club time to find their feet at this level, but Arsenal are polished, robust and full of quality, if perhaps lacking the depth to compete on multiple fronts.
The Gunners start with a tough trip to Europa League winners Atalanta — the only side to beat Bayer Leverkusen last term — on Thursday night.
Atalanta also stunned Liverpool with a 3-0 win at Anfield to eliminate them from the Europa League last season but the Reds are now back in the competition they most relish, under new management in Arne Slot.
Liverpool start away to AC Milan, a repeat of both the epic 2005 final and the Rossoneri’s revenge two years later. While they may be adapting to Slot, the Dutchman still has an enormous quality at his disposal and Liverpool will be a test for anyone at Anfield if they reach the knockouts.
Aston Villa’s hugely anticipated return to the competition after 41 years starts against Swiss side Young Boys in tonight’s early kick-off.
Villa, led by a European specialist in Unai Emery, will be hoping to be this season’s surprise package in the competition but may be wary of the example of Newcastle, who slipped down the Premier League table and out of Europe after struggling to compete on multiple fronts last term.
Bayern and Barcelona are both under new management and may need time to adapt but Kane and Barca’s teenage sensation Lamine Yamal appear certain to be among the stars of the competition, while Inter Milan boast an underrated coach in Simeone Inzaghi and a strong squad.
Atletico Madrid, still under the leadership of grizzled coach Diego Simeone, signed Conor Gallagher and Julián Alvarez in an intriguing summer window, while Paris Saint-Germain are now pursuing a different model — based on young French talent — in the hope of finally winning the competition.
