Champions League 2026-27 Power Rankings: Can anyone stop PSG?! Holders make a statement ahead of Barcelona showdown while Bayern Munich's frailties are exposed

This season's power rankings are going to look a little different; rather than ranking every team from 1-36, we will instead be mimicking the competition's league phase by ranking the top 24 contenders, with the other 12 teams left on the outside looking in.

That's not to say that none of these 12 teams will make it through - there is always a shock name or two in the knockout rounds - but this dozen are currently, in our view, the least likely teams to progress and continue their European journey past the opening round.

There are teams here who have already enjoyed success in this season's competition, including Azerbaijani newcomers Sabah, who beat Slavia Prague in their first home match at this level, while both Norwegian clubs have made their marks, as Viking earned a 3-3 draw with Bayern Munich before Bodo/Glimt beat Borussia Dortmund 24 hours later. However, they all still face a long road towards earning a place in at least the play-off round.

Some of the other minnows, such as LASK and Slovan Bratislava, do look a little out of their depth, while there is concern that neither of the Turkish clubs will make it through, with Galatasaray and Fenerbahce having acquired just a single point between them thus far.

GOAL's doomed dozen: AEK Athens, Bodo/Glimt, Fenerbahce (⬇️), Feyenoord, Galatasaray (⬇️), LASK, Lens, Lille (⬇️), Sabah, Slavia Prague, Slovan Bratislava, Viking.

Given Antonio Conte's woeful record in continental competition, it perhaps shouldn't have been a surprise when Napoli crashed out of the league phase last season, but many were still shocked by the then-Serie A champions' failure to secure a place in the top 24. Conte has since moved on, with Massimiliano Allegri brought in following his own departure from AC Milan.

Things haven't started well for Allegri, who has won only three of his six Serie A games in charge thus far, while his side are still looking for their first point in the Champions League after defeats to Arsenal and Villarreal. The second of those will most concern Allegri, and while Napoli do have Sabah and Viking as the final two games of the league phase, they first need to ensure they are within touching distance of qualification for those games to matter.

Villarreal were one of the biggest disappointments of last season's Champions League as the Yellow Submarine mustered just a solitary point from their eight games to finish second-bottom of the 36-team league phase table. With that in mind, they are already making a much better of fist of things this time around.

Though they lost out to Borussia Dortmund on matchday one, they were unfortunate not to come away from Germany with a draw, and they built on that performance with victory over Napoli that included some superb finishing from Inigo Perez's side. With Slavia Pragua and Sabah to come before Christmas, Villarreal should be well in the qualification hunt heading into the New Year.

After two years away, Porto are back in the Champions League after Francesco Farioli's side triumphed in Liga Portugal last season. The Italian coach made Los Dragoes one of the toughest teams to beat in Europe after taking over in the summer of 2025, but they have work to do if they are to make a mark on continental competition this time around.

While a defeat to Manchester City on matchday one was expected, Farioli will be frustrated at how his side threw away a second-half lead against Real Betis to eventually lose 3-2 in Spain. Their upcoming home games against PSV and Napoli, then, already feel like they are both must-wins.

Despite producing thrashings of Napoli and Liverpool during last season's league phase, PSV came up short in their bid to reach the knockout rounds, and there is already a fear that a repeat could be on the cards for the Dutch champions in 2025-26 after they picked up just one point from their opening two fixtures.

A home draw with Shakhtar Donetsk was followed by a narrow defeat at RB Leipzig as Ivan Perisic's missed penalty came back to bite Peter Bosz's side. PSV do have one of the easier sets of league-phase fixtures on paper, but they need to start taking advantage of their kind draw sooner rather than later.

After missing out on European football all together last season, Leipzig are back at the top table after a third-placed finish in the Bundesliga, though their return to the Champions League got off to an embarrassing start as they were thrashed by newcomers Como in their first continental outing of the campaign.

Fortunately for manager Martin Demichelis, the German side were able to bounce back and secure a narrow win over PSV thanks to Brajan Gruda's second-half strike. With Real Madrid and Manchester City next on the European agenda, that victory was desperately needed to keep morale high at the Red Bull Arena.

Little was expected of Shakhtar Donetsk upon their return to the Champions League as the Ukrainian side continue their nomadic existence amid Russia's invasion of their homeland. Arda Turan's side have made Stamford Bridge their home for European games this time around, and they christened their new west London base with victory over AEK Athens on Wednesday.

That win came off the back of a more than creditable draw away at PSV, and given they still have Slovan Bratislava and Fenerbahce on their schedule, having four points to their name already gives Shakhtar an excellent base from which they can plot a route into the knockouts.

Club Brugge have qualified for the knockouts in each of the first two years of the new Champions League format, and they will feel confident of making it three from three after they bounced back from an opening-night loss to Aston Villa to win a thriller against Inter at San Siro.

Boyhood AC Milan fan Nicolo Tresoldi stole the headlines with a hat-trick while the pace and trickery of winger Carlos Forbs caused the Inter backline all sorts of problems. With a relatively kind set of fixtures to come, the Belgian side should be confident of a top-24 finish already.

Sebastian Hoeness continues to work wonders with Stuttgart, whom he has taken from the Bundesliga's relegation play-off to qualifying for the Champions League twice in the space of three seasons. Deniz Undav has emerged as the club's talisman up front, while Angelo Stiller and Jamie Leweling behind him are attracting interest from Europe's biggest clubs.

Working in Stuttgart's favour this season is that they have, according to Opta, been handed the easiest set of fixtures of any of the 36 qualified teams, and they have taken advantage of a soft start by defeating both Viking and Slovan Bratislava. Atletico Madrid and Inter will provide sterner tests before the end of November, but a place in the knockouts is already within touching distance for Hoeness' side.

Back in the Champions League for the first time in over 20 years, Real Betis finished fifth in La Liga last term as they continue to reassert themselves as a force to be reckoned with in Spain under Manuel Pellegrini.

They have made some early noise in Europe, too, recording back-to-back 3-2 wins over Lille and Porto to put themselves well in the mix for not only a knockouts place but potentially a bye to the last 16. They will need to maintain that momentum through their next four fixtures, as Betis will not fancy going into their final two matches, against Arsenal and Bayern Munich, still needing points to secure qualification.

Como might be Champions League debutants who weren't even playing top-flight football three years ago, but they are not in the competition to merely make up the numbers. The Serie A upstarts have showcased a knack for taking down Italy's biggest clubs over the past two seasons, and Cesc Fabregas' side now shifted their focus on defeating some of Europe's very best sides.

They began their continental campaign in style by thrashing RB Leipzig on matchday one, but defeat at Feyenoord on Wednesday offered a brutal reality check for Fabregas and his talented squad. Manchester United are next on the agenda, and victory over the Red Devils would put the newcomers in a great spot to qualify given they have Lens and AEK Athens to come before November is out.

Sporting are beginning to become part of the Champions League furniture, and they went all the way to the quarter-finals last season after surprisingly earning a top-eight finish in the league phase before producing an epic comeback to beat Bodo/Glimt in the last 16.

The man who masterminded that run, Rui Borges, remains in charge, and he is once again working his magic with Sporting among the teams to have won both of their opening two Champions League games following victories over Galatasaray and Lens. With LASK and Shakhtar Donetsk next on their schedule, the Lisbon-based outfit could well find themselves on the cusp of securing a top-eight finish well before they face Barcelona and Manchester City in January.

Roma are back in the Champions League for the first time since the 2018-19 season, with Gian Piero Gasperini having worked wonders to restore the Giallorossi to being one of the major forces in Italian football. Under the former Atalanta boss, the capital club have become incredibly difficult to beat, and looked set for a statement result on matchday two as they led Real Madrid 3-1 as they entered the final 10 minutes.

However, some bizarre substitutions led to the home side conceding three late goals at Stadio Olimpico, leaving them on just one point from their first two games following a draw at Fenerbahce. A home game against Slovan Bratislava, however, should offer Gasperini and his players the perfect chance to bounce back at the first time of asking.

Borussia Dortmund earned a reputation as being European football's ultimate finishing school when the likes of Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham and Achraf Hakimi passed through on their way to superstardom, but elite graduates have dried up in recent years. To that end, the Bundesliga giants looked to youth over the summer, with Niko Kovac now possessing a squad that contains almost unlimited potential.

That potential has helped them enjoy a strong start to the Bundesliga season, but their Champions League campaign is already on the rocks after they succumbed to defeat in the Arctic Circle against Bodo/Glimt. On the plus side, they do have a victory over Villarreal to their name already, while a matchday-three meeting with Sabah offers an ideal chance to get back to winning ways.

Michael Carrick guided Manchester United back into the Champions League during his impressive interim spell in charge during the second half of last season, but his start to life as permanent boss has not wholly gone to plan, with the Red Devils having won just two of their opening nine games in all competitions to begin the season.

One of those victories did come in the Champions League as they routed competition newcomers Sabah at Old Trafford, but the subsequent defeat at Atletico Madrid exposed the lack of cutting edge and top-level experience within the United squad. Two tricky games against Como and Roma are up next for United, though it remains to be seen whether Carrick will still be in charge by the time the latter of those two fixtures against Italian opponents comes around.

Inter were perhaps the biggest underperformers in last season's Champions League, as the beaten finalists from 2025 were dumped out in the play-off round after being beaten home and away by Bodo/Glimt. Cristian Chivu managed to settle things down from that disappointment and secure a domestic double by the end of his first year in charge, but things haven't improved from a European perspective quite yet.

Opta ranked Inter as having the second-easiest set of fixtures among all 36 league-phase sides, but after being edged out by Real Madrid on matchday one, the Nerazzurri then slipped to a 4-3 loss at home to Club Brugge to leave themselves in the lower reaches of the table. They have time to turn their campaign around, but any suggestion that they could make another deep run is already looking questionable at best.

It was all change for Aston Villa over the summer as six starters from their triumphant Europa League final departed, leaving Unai Emery to oversee what is likely to be a season of transition as he aims to build a new team that mostly consists of new signings. The Spaniard was not helped by the fact that some of those fresh faces have arrived while carrying injuries, but belated momentum now seems to be building at Villa Park.

Certainly in the Champions League things couldn't have gone much better as Emery's side followed up an away win at Club Brugge with a 6-0 thrashing of Fenerbahce. They will be confident, too, of making it three wins from three when they host Viking next time out before making the trip to Camp Nou to take on Barcelona in late November.

Against the odds, Atletico Madrid battled their way to the Champions League semi-finals last season before being edged out by Arsenal, and Diego Simeone will believe his side is capable of yet another deep run this time around, even if they fell to defeat at Anfield on matchday one.

Atleti did bounce back in impressive fashion to beat Manchester United in their second fixture, and while a clash with Bayern Munich remains on the horizon for early November, the rest of their games look winnable, meaning a place among the automatic qualifiers for the last 16 should be well within reach come January.

Despite going a round further than in the 2024-25 season, Liverpool undoubtedly went backwards in terms of their performance levels in the Champions League last term before being knocked out by PSG for the second successive campaign. The hope is that Andoni Iraola will return some exciting, attacking football to Anfield after replacing Arne Slot at the helm, but any improvements have been minor thus far.

That said, the Reds are sitting on two wins from two in the Champions League as they first came from behind to beat Atletico Madrid at Anfield before scoring six in Austria to beat LASK. Bradley Barcola used that game to get his Liverpool career up and running with a hat-trick, and with one of the kinder sets of fixtures in their back pocket, Iraola's side should be confident of a top-eight finish already.

There is perhaps no team more desperate to win the Champions League this season than Manchester City. With a heavy sanction for their financial rule-breaking likely on the way from the Premier League, the only realistic hope Enzo Maresca's side have of maintaining their place among Europe's elite is by winning the biggest competition on the continent.

With that in mind, Wednesday's defeat to PSG offered a reminder of the level this new-look City need to reach - and fast - if they are to make a deep run in the competition. Certainly their second-half performance offers hope for how to counter the very best sides in Europe, and it will be interesting to see how they fair against Barcelona in early December.

Real Madrid have fallen woefully short of expectations in the Champions League over the past two seasons, and have now turned to Jose Mourinho in a bid to bring silverware, both domestic and continental, back to the Bernabeu. However, the pressure is already on the Portuguese coach after some indifferent displays through the opening weeks of the campaign.

That pressure looked like it was going to reach boiling point on Wednesday when Madrid went 3-1 down to Roma, only for Los Blancos to score three times in the final 10 minutes to rescue victory from the jaws of defeat and make it two wins from two in the Champions League following their previous victory over Inter. Still, major improvements are needed if Mourinho's side are to make a run to at least the semi-finals.

As last season's Champions League wore on, Bayern Munich emerged as many fans' favourites before they fell short against PSG following one of the great semi-finals in competition history. Led by their swashbuckling attacking trio of Harry Kane, Michael Olise and Luis Diaz, the Bundesliga giants had previously swept all before them, including Real Madrid in the quarters.

Things haven't quite clicked into gear in the same way this time around, as highlighted by Bayern's failure to beat Viking on matchday two. Vincent Kompany's side came from 2-0 down to take the lead in the second half, only for Olise's red card to leave them a man down, and they eventually conceded a last-minute equaliser to the Norwegian minnows.

Olise will also now miss the matchday-three meeting with Arsenal thanks to his dismissal in what promises to be a measuring stick game for both teams.

Beaten finalists in May, Arsenal's determination to finally get their hands on a first European Cup is likely to reach fever pitch this season, especially if, as expected, they run away with the Premier League title race once Manchester City's sanctions are confirmed. Mikel Arteta certainly has a defence and midfield capable of going all the way, but questions remain over the potency of the Gunners' attack after they failed to land a big-name forward over the summer.

The first step for Arsenal is trying to replicate their perfect league phase from 2025-26, and they are two from two thus far despite not being at their best against either Napoli or Lille. A trip to Bayern Munich is next on the agenda for Mikel Arteta's side, and they will be keen to lay down a significant marker in Bavaria.

It's now been 11 years since Barcelona last won the Champions League, but there is a feeling that if any team can dethrone PSG this season then it is Hansi Flick's side. The Blaugrana have dominated the past two seasons in La Liga under the German coach, but have fallen short on the continent in part due to their high defensive line and the open nature of their midfield.

There is a belief that the signing of Rodri will be a game-changer in that regard, with there no better player in the world than the Spain captain at snuffing out counter-attacks. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha, meanwhile, have begun the new season in flying form in front of goal, with the former providing two sensational assists in the matchday-two victory over Galatasaray. With PSG up next, Barca's credentials face the ultimate test.

Winners of the Champions League in each of the past two seasons, PSG are going in pursuit of a three-peat in 2026-27 as they aim to become the first team not named Real Madrid to lift the European Cup on three successive occasions. The early signs of them doing so look encouraging, too, as they followed up a thrashing of Slovan Bratislava with a statement win on the road at Manchester City.

Luis Enrique's side were breath-taking as they sped out to a 3-0 lead during the first half, and though City posed them plenty more problems after the break, the French champions were able to hold out for a 4-2 win. They now face Barcelona next up in what could prove to be a preview of the eventual final.