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The return of the UEFA Champions League is a mid-September staple, but this season’s edition of the competition comes with new layers of intrigue.

When the action finally begins on Tuesday, it will do so as a new, Swiss-system tournament that features a league phase rather than a group stage. The league phase will feature more teams, more games, one more day of fixtures this week, and hopefully more competitiveness and chaos over the course of the next few months. While it may take a few weeks to find out if the new format lives up to the hype, Matchday 1 comes with a host of entertaining matches and a wide array of storylines to follow.

For teams as accomplished as reigning champions Real Madrid, relative newcomers like Aston Villa and everyone in between, this week’s action offers a chance to leave a lasting first impression. That’s especially true in the new format, which demands strong showings as early as Matchday 1 — look no further than Inter’s trip to Manchester City on Wednesday, one of several high-profile meetings that will be scattered throughout the league phase.

How to watch

Matchday 1 TV schedule

All times Eastern

Storylines for Matchday 1

1. Hello, new format

Rare is the occasion when an administrative decision almost overshadows the actual action on the field, but UEFA’s updated format changes the Champions League as we know it and could be the competition’s biggest talking point through mid-winter.

At first glance, the switch to the Swiss-system tournament looks like it might live up to the promise of offering more high-stakes matchups earlier in the season. Perhaps the headlining act of Matchday 1 is a matchup between two domestic league champions, Manchester City and Inter — it will serve as an early test of City’s status as one of the favorites to win the whole thing, especially as some suggest that it is a foregone conclusion that either they or Real Madrid will lift the title next spring. Another match with similar stakes is Liverpool’s trip to AC Milan, where the Reds hope to bounce back from their first loss under Arne Slot over the weekend and Milan aim to reverse course after an underwhelming start to the season.

The context in which we now judge these matchups, though, has also changed. No longer will these teams be competing for two spots out of four in a group, but 24 spots out of 36 in the league phase and for the best teams in Europe, with even more emphasis on being in the top eight. It might be difficult to visualize the permutations at the end of Matchday 1, but with each team beholden to each other in the league phase, the mental math that precedes the knockout stage could be more chaotic than ever before.

2. Kylian Mbappe joins Real Madrid title defense

New format or not, there’s no reason to doubt Real Madrid’s case as the favorites to win the competition for a second season in a row. The squad from last season’s triumph is mostly intact, the notable exception to the rule being Toni Kroos after his retirement, but they did make the summer’s biggest signing — Kylian Mbappe. His addition, combined with an already star-studded team that includes Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo, means expectations are high for Carlo Ancelotti’s side. There is, though, an added weight on Mbappe, who is considered the heir-apparent to Lionel Messi’s crown as the greatest player currently playing the game. He won the World Cup at 19 but his seven-year spell at Paris Saint-Germain did not lead him to Champions League glory, which is no doubt seeking now at Madrid, sitting in a locker room full of winners of Europe’s top club prize.

3. Are Barcelona the real deal?

While most of Europe’s top teams are exactly where one might expect them to be at this early stage of the season, the perennially chaotic Barcelona are off to a surprisingly strong start to their first campaign under manager Hansi Flick. They have a perfect five wins out of five in La Liga, the only team in Spain’s top flight with that record, and sit atop the league after scoring 17 goals and conceding just four.

The immediate question facing Barcelona at this point is how long they can keep the winning streak going, which they could extend to six as the favorites against Monaco on Thursday. That remains the case even though their marquee summer signing, Euro champion Dani Olmo, could miss the Champions League match after picking up a hamstring injury over the weekend. His club and country teammate Lamine Yamal, though, is stealing the show — he now has three goals and four assists to start the season and may be the key to Barcelona’s attempts to stay competitive with Real Madrid despite haphazard squad building and financial difficulties.

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