Champions League draw reaction: Good for Liverpool, bad for Barcelona, must-see games

The draw is complete for the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League's still-kinda-new league phase, and there is a lot to unpack for big clubs, minnows, debutants and everyone else in the 36-team table. ESPN's Mark Ogden, Rob Dawson, Bill Connelly and Alex Kirkland tell you what you need to know. - UCL draw as it happened: Good draw for Liverpool? - Full draw: Arsenal vs. Real Madrid a standout game - Watson: Who are Sabah FK, UCL debutants and Arsenal opponent? Biggest storylines Matches like PSG at Manchester City, Real Madrid at Arsenal, Barcelona at PSG, Manchester City at Barcelona and Arsenal at Bayern Munich will highlight the league phase of the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League, the draw for which was completed on Thursday evening. Action will begin on September 8, though the schedule of individual matches won't be announced until this weekend. The slate is a fresh one of sorts: There are no rematches of ties from last season's quarterfinals, semis or finals. Still, the league phase was created to establish more early-season matchups of soccer bluebloods, and it produced plenty. This slate will require the sport's biggest names to accelerate early in the competition; Arsenal and Bayern Munich parlayed excellent league-phase performances into runs to the finals and semis, respectively, though they were both taken down by perennial league phase underachievers PSG. For many, the highlight of the league phase comes when debutants host big names. As part of their first-ever venture into European football, Como will host headliners like PSG and Manchester United while visiting Barcelona, while Sabah will host Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund and twice head to England for matches against Arsenal and Manchester United. Norway's Viking and Austria's LASK will make their first appearances since the introduction of a group stage or league phase; the former will host Bayern, while the latter welcomes Liverpool and Porto, among others. Meanwhile, last winter's knockout round darlings, mighty Bodø/Glimt, will welcome Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund to the cozy Aspmyra Stadion near the North Pole. Seven teams will play three matches against teams currently ranked in the world's top 10, per Opta's power ratings: Atletico Madrid, Como, RB Leipzig, Roma, Sabah, Sporting CP and Villarreal. -- Bill Connelly It was a good draw for ... Liverpool Andoni Iraola has never managed a team in European competition before, but the new Liverpool coach has been given a soft landing with the Reds' League Phase fixture list. Liverpool have avoided the heavyweights from Pot 1 -- namely PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich -- and instead received more straightforward encounters with fellow top seeds Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid. Beyond those two, it really should be a stroll into the Top Eight for the six-time Champions League winners with further games against Club Brugge, Villarreal, Fenerbahce, Lens and LASK Linz. Of that group of games, maybe the trip to Austria to face LASK will be the one to watch out for due to their remarkable Play-Off fightback against Celtic, in which they overturned a four-goal deficit to reach the League Phase. Atletico Madrid If Diego Simeone's Atleti are going to finally get their hands on the Champions League trophy after so many heartbreaks in the competition, this season is the one to do it, especially with their Metropolitano Stadium hosting the final. Better yet, LaLiga's third-biggest team received a comfortable route to the knockout stages, despite some big games against Bayern, Liverpool and Manchester United. Atleti should have too much for United in Madrid and they will surely wrap up a place in the Top Eight by beating PSV, Fenerbahce, Viking and Stuttgart. The tricky tie for Atleti will be their trip to Norway to face Bodo/Glimt, who memorably won 2-1 in the Metropolitano on the final day of last season's League Phase. Sabah FK Ok, on the face of it, the Azerbaijan champions have a nightmare draw after being paired with Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal and Manchester United. But for a team that is less than 10 years old -- they were only formed in 2017 -- to face four former European champions in their debut season in the Champions League will be a dream come true. Barca and Dortmund must both make the arduous trip to Azerbaijan to face Sabah in Baku -- their home ground in Masazir doesn't meet UEFA standards -- while The Owls will visit the Emirates and Old Trafford for their clashes with Arsenal and United. Napoli and Villarreal also have strong pedigree, so Sabah will make plenty of memories this season. Real Madrid Mourinho is back at Real Madrid and he faces an emotional reunion with Inter Milan -- the club he guided to Champions League glory at the Bernabeu in 2010. Aside from the home game against Inter, a trip to Arsenal is as tough as it gets for Real, offering Vinicius Junior an early chance to check out where he could have been playing this season had he taken the chance to join the Premier League champions. Mourinho also has a return to trip to Roma, another former club, but PSV Eindhoven, RB Leipzig, Shakhtar Donetsk -- a game to be played at Stamford Bridge, another old Mourinho haunt -- LASK and AEK Athens will not trouble Real, so they will be delighted with the fixture list. -- Mark Ogden It was a bad draw for ... Barcelona After falling in the semifinals in 2025, and the quarterfinals in 2026, this is supposed to be the year for Hansi Flick's Barça. They've won LaLiga two seasons in a row; now they want the Champions League, a competition they haven't won since 2015. But this isn't an easy draw for Lamine Yamal & co: Manchester City and PSG from pot one, Aston Villa - near underestimate Unai Emery in Europe - from pot two, an away trip to Galatasaray from pot three, and arguably the two trickiest teams from pot four, Cesc Fabregas' exciting Como, and Sabah. They'll probably be fine; but it won't be straightforward. Manchester United United being back in Europe is a big deal, and after their uncertain start in the Premier League, Michael Carrick's team now have a daunting league phase to cope with, too. Last season's semifinalists Bayern Munich are as tough as it gets in pot one, and playing Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano is never easy given the atmosphere Diego Simeone's team are able to generate there. Looking through the rest of their games: how many would you say with absolute confidence that United will take three points? Perhaps Villarreal (discussed below) but even so, that's away in Spain. At least United play Sabah at home, but Como away is another tough fixture. Villarreal Last season, Villarreal's league phase performance was -- let's be honest -- embarrassing for a club that reached the semifinals in 2022 and won the Europa League in 2021. They got a solitary point from their eight games -- alongside Kairat Almaty -- finishing 35th out of the 36 teams. And this season, there's not much good news either for new coach Iñigo Pérez, a novice at this level. PSG, Liverpool, United, Dortmund and Napoli will all be favourites against the Yellow Submarine, and Fenerbahce away is never easy. Let's see if Villarreal can improve on last season's points tally by getting results against pot four opponents Sabah and Slavia Prague. -- Alex Kirkland Aston Villa They've had a dreadful start to the Premier League season and lost key players in Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa and Youri Tielemans this summer; now they'll face two of Europe's very best teams, PSG and Barcelona, from pot one. Dortmund and Club Brugge won't be pushovers, Galatasaray is a long, demanding away trip, while Viking are an unknown quantity. Unai Emery will need all of his European experience, and a bit of luck, to navigate his way through that. -- Alex Kirkland Must-see matches of the league phase Exact match schedule will be released on Saturday Barcelona vs. Man City: Less than a month after his high-profile transfer, we're being treated to a Rodri reunion. Man City have found the new league phase tough since its introduction and a trip to Camp Nou will be difficult. Rodri, the best player at the World Cup, has made Barcelona significantly stronger while making City much weaker. Will Enzo Maresca have his City midfield correctly configured in time? Barcelona vs. Como: Como, under coach Cesc Fabregas, are making their Champions League debut after finishing fourth in Serie A last season. Fabregas knows Barcelona well after three years there as a player between 2011 and 2014. Como will be keen to make their mark in the tournament and a positive result against Barcelona would turn heads. Man United vs. Bayern Munich: Man United and Bayern have serious history in this competition. They served up one of the most memorable Champions League finals ever in 1999 when United scored twice in stoppage time to win. Bayern also helped knock United out in the group stage on their last appearance in the tournament under Erik ten Hag in 2023. What will this season's encounter deliver? PSG vs. Barcelona: It's simple enough to understand why this should be one of the ties of the round, as the match in Paris will see two of the favourites go head-to-head. It will also see World Cup match winner Ferran Torres return to his former club after signing for PSG over the summer. Villarreal vs. Man United: In a twist of fate, Villarreal away in the Champions League was Michael Carrick's first game in charge of United when he took over as interim after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's departure in November 2021. United won 2-0 that day, and Carrick would love a similar result when he goes back as permanent boss. Arsenal vs. Real Madrid: Jose Mourinho had plenty of run-ins with Arsenal during his time in England -- particularly when he went head to head with Arsene Wenger during his time at Chelsea. Re-appointed at Real Madrid over the summer, you can imagine that the Portuguese coach will relish the opportunity to whip up the Emirates crowd. Grab your popcorn. -- Rob Dawson Other big clubs' fortunes in a sentence PSG: Luis Enrique's squad has done the "start slow and finish fast" thing two seasons in a row now, and with six opponents hailing from Europe's Big Five leagues -- plus no wins in either of their first two domestic matches -- there's certainly the possibility for another slow start. Arsenal: The best club in England drew a couple of huge headliners with Real Madrid's visit and the trip to Munich, but they otherwise have a pretty light draw: They face only one other opponent in Opta's current top 30. Bayern Munich: Few clubs have more consistently rolled through the group stage or league phase like Bayern. They'll get a shot at avenging last year's early loss to Arsenal, and their road slate is navigable compared to others. Manchester City: Maresca has his hands full in making sense of a pretty new and interesting roster, and City face a couple of the biggest matches of the league phase with their visit to Barcelona and their hosting PSG. Trips to Leipzig and Porto could be tricky, but City could be City's biggest opponent early in the season. Real Madrid: Per the current Opta ratings, Jose Mourinho's team plays three of the six worst teams in the draw and only one of the top seven. That should create plenty of margin for error and give Kylian Mbappé plenty of opportunities to replicate last year's obnoxious goal total. Inter Milan: Italy's best club plays only four matches against teams from Europe's Big Five leagues but should face plenty of spirited crowds on the road with trips to Liverpool, Club Brugge and Stuttgart. Borussia Dortmund: The trip to Arsenal will likely be too much for a young and refreshed BVB squad -- and no one wants to head up to face Bodø/Glimt -- but a home slate of Inter, Real Betis, Villarreal and AEK Athens could give them a shot at a four-match sweep. -- Bill Connelly Way-too-early predictions Winner of league phase Kirkland: Arsenal. Their defence will still be solid -- remember, they only conceded four league phase goals last year, half of them on matchday eight -- and they'll be even better going forward. Connelly: Arsenal, again. They have a reasonably easy draw outside of the two big headliners, and they've certainly hit the ground running this season. Dawson: Bayern Munich. Good team, they finished second last season and they've got eight winnable games. Ogden: Liverpool. Not the strongest team this year, but they have the easiest section of games among the top seeds and should win the majority of them comfortably. Who will finish top 8? Kirkland: Arsenal, Bayern, Barcelona, PSG, Real Madrid, Inter, Liverpool, Como. Despite Barça's tough schedule, they'll still cruise through; Madrid will improve on last year; and Como will surprise everybody. Connelly: Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Porto, Stuttgart. The first three might be the best in Europe -- aside from PSG, for whom it's a tradition to fall out of the top 8 before accelerating -- and the last five have a solid combination of quality and navigable schedule. Dawson: Bayern, Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona, PSG, Real Madrid, Inter, Man City. PSG surely can't finish outside the top eight again. Man City's prospects depend on what the squad looks like after the deadline. Bayern, Arsenal and Barcelona are the three best teams in Europe. Ogden: Liverpool, PSG, Arsenal, Man City, Real, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich. Many of the usual suspects should secure a spot in the round of 16 outright without the need for that extra round. Surprising team that will struggle Kirkland: Atletico Madrid. Julián Álvarez was so important in their semifinal run last year, and he'll either be deeply unhappy or playing for someone else. Connelly: Manchester City. Coach Maresca might need a bit to figure out his lineup, and matchups against PSG and Barca might turn out to be pretty unforgiving. Dawson: Atletico Madrid. It's been a difficult summer with the Alvarez transfer saga, and it might have an impact on their season. Ogden: Manchester United. United have a tough list of games and they will not relish their trips to Villarreal, Sporting and Como. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid have too much Champions League experience for Michael Carrick's team.