What to watch in UEFA Champions League: All eyes on Manchester City vs PSG; Real Madrid face big test at Roma

Enzo Maresca's side faces the ultimate tactical test against back-to-back champions PSG, while Jose Mourinho brings Real Madrid to the Stadio Olimpico

Oct 14, 2026 at 6:45 am ET • 7 min read

Well Tuesday's games sure didn't disappoint. Saka got his scoring boots on in a 3-0 win for Arsenal over Lille, just like we told you he would, and Barcelona once again ran up the score, so we were 2-2 on that front. Though the real drama was in Manchester United entering yet another crisis with a 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich drawing 3-3 with the Norwegian underdogs, Viking. 

As for Wednesday's game, well there's only one place to start.

What about Man City on the pitch?

Almost the last aspect of Manchester City to find itself under the microscope over recent weeks has been the team here and now under Enzo Maresca's leadership and their ability to win games in the weeks ahead. One might argue that that is a fitting aspect of the suite of punishments that will be meted out unless they are successful in their appeal. City's 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules have warped both the English and European game for so long that the temptation for some might be just not to look.

That might work in the Premier League, where the prospect of points deductions or expulsion means that games like Sunday's 3-0 win at Liverpool might actually prove to have been irrelevant. The Champions League is rather different. UEFA struck out in their probe in 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturning a two-year Champions League ban as the alleged breaches were mostly either time-barred or not established. 

Whatever City achieve in Europe this season is much more likely to count. The idea of this team playing in the EFL and UCL as holders next season ought not to be entirely discounted. Most bookmakers have them as fifth or sixth favorites, at worst somewhere just outside the inner circle of contenders. Opta gives only Arsenal a better chance of winning the competition. 

The current Premier League table tells you they could achieve a great deal given they have won six of six to go with their win in Porto to start off the competition. It might not be entirely truthful at this early juncture. Pep Guardiola is due to return to the Etihad on Wednesday night to offer his support to the embattled club (and, based on his public statements, the ownership too). What he will see is a team that is so far yet to kick some of the bad habits that cost them titles in his final years.

In particular, this team looks vulnerable to being cut through on the counter for reasons that will be relatively obvious if you check their pass network in last month's 5-3 win over Sunderland. Enzo Maresca's system is written as a 4-2-3-1 but Enzo Fernandez (No.17 above) is as much an attacking midfielder at the Etihad as he was when these two were together at Chelsea. The Sunderland game is an extreme example of his positioning and that of No.10 Rayan Cherki, but this bears a few hallmarks of Guardiola's time with a 4-3-3 of free eights in Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, both superior pressers to the current attacking midfielders. It is fair to say that even a toned-down version of this approach is contingent on Elliot Anderson (No.5) continuing to be as excellent as he has been early in his City career.

Certainly it might well look vulnerable if Paris Saint-Germain show up with their midfield at full strength. The relatively diffident approach the back-to-back champions take to the league phase is a reminder not to overindex any results that don't go their way. Equally, one could see Desire Doue flitting infield and/or Ousmane Dembele dropping off the front to overwhelm Anderson and create angles for runners from wide areas.

"We need the perfect performance because they are the best team in Europe," said Maresca of the task ahead of City. "They have won the past two Champions Leagues. We need the perfect game but, doing our best, I think we can beat them and be happy at the end." Whether anyone would be happy for them is quite another matter.

Viewing information -- Man City vs. PSG

Date: Wednesday, Oct. 14 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
Location: Etihad Stadium -- Manchester, United Kingdom
Live stream: Paramount+
Odds: Man City +115; Draw +280; PSG +190

Mourinho's tough return

Jose Mourinho will probably relish the welcome the Stadio Olimpico affords him on his return to the side he led to the Conference League. When the ball gets rolling? Perhaps not so much. His Real Madrid side are of course favorites given the sheer weight of talent they can roll onto the field -- enough to down Inter in their Champions League opener -- but while Mourinho still puzzles out the right system to nullify the issues with the left-leaning attack, he is running into an opponent that knows exactly who they are. And Roma will be changing for no one.

"Our attitude led us to play these types of matches and finish third last year," head coach Gianpiero Gasperini said. "We have characteristics we don't change. We know Real's value, but they aren't the first valuable team we meet. It doesn't take them much to create dangerous situations, but that's part of what makes great teams great. I don't think Roma's characteristics should be distorted."

That Gasperini went on to suggest Wednesday's opponents have "room for improvement" "in terms of the aesthetic quality of their football" seemed less like a dig from a rival coach and more an expert assessment. Few coaches are as adept as Gasperini at getting their team to hum in possession, whose Roma outfit rank seventh in Europe's top five leagues in terms of non-penalty expected goals per game. 

The talent is impressive but not remarkably so, the closest Roma have to a star being Paulo Dybala defying age curves in the Eternal City. Meanwhile, players have started over 30 Serie A games since the start of last season, a number that would surely be higher if Dybala were always fit. Across the pitch there are groupings that just seem to click, most notably the steadying Bryan Cristante offering a platform for Manu Kone to excel in midfield. The rich run of form that propelled this side into the Champions League at the back end of last season and the title race early in this is a triumph of the collective. 

Well, that and a bit of coaching stardust. Since arriving in Italy in January, Donyell Malen has 24 Serie A goals. Across Europe's top five leagues, only five players beat that mark. The evidence of Gasperini's time at Atalanta suggests this is less a matter of Roma unlocking superstar talent, more that their coach can turn ordinary forwards into world beaters.

In a 3-5-2 system with fearless wing backs, Roma look like a team that could give Real Madrid plenty of issues in the likely event that Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior leave the out-of-possession stuff to the rest of their side. Now, of course, those players could puncture the bubble of their fearless hosts with just a couple of chances. Gasperini, though, has every reason to back the courage of his convictions. This is a team that could deliver quite an upset.

Viewing information -- Roma vs. Real Madrid

Date: Wednesday, Oct. 14 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
Location: Stadio Olimpico -- Rome
Live stream: Paramount+
Odds: Roma +250; Draw +280; Real Madrid -118

Stamford Bridge gets its Champions League nights

A disastrous 2025-26 season for Chelsea meant that Stamford Bridge might have stood empty for much of the winter. Happily for Shakhtar Donetsk, that is not the case, the Ukrainian champions are playing the first of their four home league phase games against AEK Athens in west London. The ties that Mykhailo Mudryk's transfer forged between the Premier League giants and Shakhtar, without a home since 2014 and unable to host European games in Ukraine since the invasion of Russia, remain strong, such that Blues owner Behdad Eghbali was only too ready to lend his stadium out.

Shakhtar Donetsk brings message of resilience and investment to Champions League nights at Stamford Bridge

James Benge

You can read more about how Shakhtar and their ownership plan to use their London visits to draw investment in Ukraine here, but there is also the football to consider. The Ukrainian champions gave an impressive account of themselves in drawing at PSV Eindhoven in their first game, all the more so given that an XI with an average age of 24 is the youngest in the competition so far. It may be that they do not have long left with head coach Arda Turan, the subject of several links with the vacant Turkey job, and that increases the importance of this game. A win at their new home and Shakhtar would be well set for a first knockout berth since 2014-15.

Viewing information -- Shakhtar Donetsk vs. AEK Athens

Date: Wednesday, Oct. 14 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
Location: Stamford Bridge -- London
Live stream: Paramount+
Odds: Shakhtar Donetsk +160; Draw +225; AEK Athens +163