Champions League League Phase Schedule: Real Madrid Top Inter — SkimNews
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- Real Madrid opened the league phase with a 2-1 win over Inter on Tuesday, September 8, with Mbappé and Valverde on target according to parallel coverage of the match.
- Matchday 1 also saw Manchester City beat Porto 2-0, Borussia Dortmund edge Villarreal 3-2, Real Betis top Lille 3-2, Aston Villa edge Club Brugge 3-2, and AEK Athens beat LASK 1-0 on opening day.
- Matchday 1 headline fixtures for Wednesday, September 9 include Liverpool vs Atlético de Madrid, Napoli vs Arsenal, Barcelona vs Feyenoord, and PSG vs Slovan Bratislava, all kicking off at 3 p.m.
- The league phase runs through January 27, when the top eight teams advance directly to the knockout round and the next 16 enter a playoff round to fill out the last-16 bracket.
- Matchday 7 closes the phase on January 27 with all 18 fixtures kicking off simultaneously at 3 p.m., including Arsenal vs Sabah FC, Liverpool vs RC Lens, Barcelona vs Como 1907, and Bayern München vs Real Betis.
- Arsenal's league-phase slate stacks Napoli (away), Bayern (away), Real Madrid (home), and Borussia Dortmund (home) as the toughest tests in a path that includes a final-day home tie against Sabah FC.
Why it matters: The new 36-team league format means finishing in the top eight bypasses a two-legged playoff — so Arsenal's away tie at Napoli on Matchday 1 and Real Madrid's visit to Inter on the same night carry direct seeding weight in a single-table race that runs across 18 simultaneous kickoffs on the final matchday.
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