The UEFA Champions League began its new 36-team league phase on Wednesday, 9 September 2026, with FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and VfB Stuttgart among the sides to record impressive victories. Liverpool and Arsenal also collected three points on the opening night, while Sporting CP came from the evening’s other winners.
FC Barcelona made the strongest statement of the six fixtures by beating Feyenoord 5-1. Raphinha scored twice for the Catalan club, with Karim Adeyemi, Lamine Yamal and Gabriel Jesus also finding the net.
The result gives FC Barcelona an emphatic start to their European campaign and places them among the early headline-makers in the expanded competition. Feyenoord were unable to match their opponents’ attacking output as the Spanish side secured a four-goal victory.
VfB Stuttgart also began with a convincing success, defeating Viking 3-1. Ermedin Demirovic was the decisive figure, scoring a hat-trick to settle the contest and give the German club all three points.
At Anfield, Liverpool recovered from conceding the opening goal to beat Atletico de Madrid 2-1. Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister scored for Liverpool as the home side overturned the deficit and completed a winning start.
Paris Saint-Germain, the defending champions, were equally emphatic. They swept aside Slovan Bratislava 6-1 to underline their status as one of the teams expected to challenge at the top of the new league phase.
Arsenal earned a narrower victory, beating Naples 1-0 away from home. That result gave the north London club three points from a demanding opening fixture and ensured that all five of the most prominent winners on the night began the competition successfully.
Sporting CP completed the list of victorious teams with a 3-1 win against Galatasaray. The Portuguese side took the points in the final fixture included in Wednesday’s programme.
The six results were:
- FC Barcelona 5-1 Feyenoord - VfB Stuttgart 3-1 Viking - Liverpool 2-1 Atletico de Madrid - Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 Slovan Bratislava - Sporting CP 3-1 Galatasaray - Naples 0-1 Arsenal
Wednesday’s opening round marked the start of the Champions League’s new league-phase format, featuring 36 teams. FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain made particularly forceful entrances, while VfB Stuttgart, Liverpool, Arsenal and Sporting CP also secured victories in their first European matches of the campaign.