Dark horses, gargantuan clashes, and games that will go down in history: last season’s UEFA Champions League was fiercely competitive, and the 2026/27 edition promises much of the same.
Will PSG match Real Madrid as the only team to win the Champions League three seasons in a row? Or will Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal clinch European glory on their quest to avenge last years final loss? Perhaps Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona will make up for lasts seasons Quarter-final exits. Or maybe Bayern Munich
will get their hands on their seventh European title.
If you asked Bayern captain Manuel Neuer, he’d tell you all of the above has what it takes to win the Champions League.
“It’s the usual, the finalists of recent years,” said Neuer when asked who the major competitors for the Champions League would be this season (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “Barcelona also have a good squad. The favourites will become clearer as we head towards the knockout stage. Everyone will have highs and lows; I expect it to be the usual favourites”
PSG are certainly one of the teams the Bayern captain is eluding to, whether you take “recent years” as the last two or even five years. The last team to win the Champions League before the Les Parisien’s dominant run was 15-time champions, Real Madrid. Manchester City also come to mind after victory in the 2022/23 season, and you can’t count out the likes of Inter Milan who have made it to the final twice in the last four years. Barcelona are also a dark horse that can’t be counted out.
Overall, Manuel Neuer believes Europe’s elite competition will once again be competed for by Europe’s elite.
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