The Champions League returns on 20 and 21 October with PSG against Barcelona and Bayern Munich against Arsenal among the matchday 3 fixtures, with PSG leading the league phase on six points after two rounds.
The 2026-27 Champions League league phase returns for matchday 3 on Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 October, with a set of fixtures that includes Paris Saint-Germain against Barcelona, Bayern Munich against Arsenal, Liverpool against Villarreal and Real Madrid against RB Leipzig. The kick-off times listed by Al Jazeera are 19:00 GMT for PSG-Barcelona, Liverpool-Villarreal, Bayern-Arsenal and Real Madrid-Leipzig, and 16:45 GMT for Como against Manchester United on Wednesday.
The full Tuesday programme, according to the listings in the sources, also has Fenerbahçe against Slavia Prague, Sabah against Borussia Dortmund, Roma against Slovan Bratislava, Porto against PSV Eindhoven, Manchester City against AEK Athens, Napoli against Bodø/Glimt and Stuttgart against Atlético Madrid. On Wednesday, Lille play Galatasaray, Aston Villa host Viking, Club Brugge meet Lens, Inter play Shakhtar Donetsk, Real Betis face Feyenoord and Sporting CP play LASK.
The league phase has 36 teams, and each plays eight games against eight different opponents. The top eight teams at the end get byes to the last 16, the teams placed 9th to 24th go into two-legged play-offs for the remaining places, and the bottom 12 are eliminated before February, according to NBC Sports. That is why every point matters this early.
Delima News calculated the table from the 36 results of the first two matchdays, taken from NBC Sports. On that basis PSG lead with six points and a goal difference of plus seven, after beating Slovan Bratislava 6-1 and then Manchester City 4-2 on 14 October. Aston Villa and Barcelona also have six points with a plus seven goal difference, with Villa having won 3-2 at Club Brugge and 6-0 against Fenerbahçe, and Barcelona 5-1 against Feyenoord and 4-1 at Galatasaray.
Stuttgart, Liverpool, Sporting CP, Arsenal, Real Betis and Real Madrid complete the group on six points, so nine teams share the maximum. Liverpool have eight goals scored after a 2-1 win over Atlético Madrid and a 6-3 win at LASK Linz, and Arsenal have won both of their games without conceding, 1-0 at Napoli and 3-0 against Lille, which is a notable record in a league phase.
Bayern Munich have four points after a 5-0 win against Bodø/Glimt and a 3-3 draw at Viking, which makes the visit of Arsenal a test of a side with a perfect record against one that has dropped points. Manchester United have three points, having beaten Sabah 4-0 and lost 2-0 at Atlético Madrid, and travel to Como, who have three points after a 4-1 win against RB Leipzig and a 3-2 loss at Feyenoord.
Manchester City, with three points from a 2-0 win at Porto and the 4-2 loss to PSG, host AEK Athens. Al Jazeera notes that City’s first Champions League match of the season came after a guilty verdict on financial breaches, a storyline that the source mentions without detail, so it is not described further here. Inter Milan have no points after losing 2-1 at Real Madrid and 4-3 at home to Club Brugge.
The headline game is at the Parc des Princes. Al Jazeera notes that both PSG and Barcelona have started with emphatic wins, and PSG’s attack has scored 10 goals in two games. Ferran Torres and Ermedin Demirović share the scoring lead with the sources reporting the goals from the first round, while Erling Haaland, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembél each scored twice in the openers, and Delima News has published separate profiles of these players.
The table is a calculation from match results and should be checked against the official UEFA standings, which use tie-breakers that the sources do not set out. What is clear is that matchday 3 will begin to separate teams that can finish in the top eight from those that will need the play-offs.
Image: The Parc des Princes in Paris, where PSG host Barcelona (file photo). Photo: Zakarie Faibis / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
