Real Madrid now know the path that awaits them at the beginning of their latest pursuit of the European Cup.
Thursday’s Champions League draw in Monaco determined Madrid’s eight opponents in the league phase of the 2026/27 competition, with José Mourinho’s side set to play four games at the Santiago Bernabéu and another four away from home.
Real Madrid will host Inter, PSV Eindhoven, RB Leipzig and LASK Linz. Their four away games will come against Arsenal, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk and AEK Athens.
The
complete draw:
- Home: Inter, PSV Eindhoven, RB Leipzig, LASK Linz
- Away: Arsenal, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, AEK Athens
The exact order of those fixtures, along with kickoff times, will be confirmed by UEFA this weekend.
It will be Mourinho’s first Champions League campaign since returning to Real Madrid this summer, and the Portuguese coach has some unfinished business with the competition in the Spanish capital.
Mourinho won the Champions League with Porto and Inter before his first spell at Madrid, but could not deliver the trophy during his three seasons at the Bernabéu. His teams reached three consecutive Champions League semi-finals between 2011 and 2013 without advancing to the final.
His second spell will provide another opportunity to add the trophy that escaped him the first time around.
Familiar opponents and a chance for revenge
The draw produced several familiar matchups, beginning with Inter’s visit to the Bernabéu.
Real Madrid and Inter have met 19 times in European competition, with Madrid winning 10 of those encounters. One of the most significant meetings came in the 1964 European Cup final, when Inter defeated Madrid to lift the trophy.
There is also an obvious Mourinho connection. His greatest season as Inter manager ended with the Italian club winning the 2010 Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabéu, completing a historic treble.
Madrid have happier memories from their most recent meetings with Inter, beating them home and away during the group stage of the 2021/22 Champions League.
The trip to Arsenal carries a more immediate edge.
Arsenal eliminated Real Madrid from the Champions League two seasons ago, winning 3-0 at the Emirates before completing a 5-1 aggregate victory with a 2-1 win at the Bernabéu. Madrid will now return to North London with an opportunity to respond to one of their most painful recent European eliminations.
Roma are another familiar opponent. The clubs have met several times in the Champions League, with their most recent knockout encounter coming in the round of 16 in 2015/16. Real Madrid won both legs 2-0 on their way to lifting the European Cup in Milan.
PSV Eindhoven and Shakhtar Donetsk also bring back memories of previous Champions League campaigns.
Shakhtar in particular have caused Madrid problems before. The Ukrainian side famously beat Real Madrid 3-2 at Valdebebas in October 2020 and then defeated them again in the return fixture that season. This year’s away meeting will be played at Stamford Bridge.
RB Leipzig, meanwhile, have become increasingly familiar opposition after meetings in both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 Champions League campaigns.
The Austrian side LASK represents new territory, while the trip to face AEK Athens provides another of the more unusual fixtures in Madrid’s European calendar.
How the Champions League format works
The 36 participating clubs were separated into four pots based on UEFA coefficients for Thursday’s draw. Each club was assigned two opponents from every pot — one at home and one away.
Clubs could not be paired with teams from their own domestic league and could face no more than two opponents from any one country.
As in the previous two seasons, there are no traditional Champions League groups. Instead, all 36 clubs compete in a single league table despite playing different sets of eight opponents.
The top eight teams qualify automatically for the round of 16.
Teams finishing from ninth through 24th enter a two-legged knockout playoff to determine the remaining eight places in the last 16. Teams finishing 25th or lower are eliminated from Europe altogether, with no route into the Europa League.
From the round of 16 onward, the Champions League continues through its traditional two-legged knockout rounds before the final.
This season’s final carries additional significance for Real Madrid: it will be played in their own city. The Metropolitano Stadium will host the Champions League final on June 5, 2027.
Butragueño: “Every match is a challenge”
Real Madrid Director of Institutional Relations Emilio Butragueño spoke to Realmadrid TV following the draw and stressed the difficulty of navigating the league phase.
“We are aware of the passion with which these kinds of matches are experienced, and that makes them always extremely difficult,” Butragueño said. “We compete with great enthusiasm, trusting in our players, but also knowing that every match is a challenge and requires a very high level of performance if we want to achieve our goals.”
Butragueño also highlighted how the current format increases the importance of every point.
“Unlike the previous format, now you compete against everyone. This forces you to treat every match practically like a final, because the goal is to finish in the top eight, and ideally, we’d like to be in the top four, which would give us home-court advantage until the end.”
Avoiding the additional knockout playoff is therefore one of Madrid’s first objectives.
“It’s more punishing on the schedule, because it involves two extremely intense matches with the risk of being eliminated,” Butragueño said. “It’s crucial to start picking up points in the early matches so the team gains the confidence that will allow us to finish among the best.”
Butragueño also discussed Real Madrid’s busy summer and the return of Mourinho.
“The club has made a significant effort this summer. Top-level players have arrived, and Mourinho has returned, a man with vast experience who knows how to get the best out of every player. We are approaching this season with enormous enthusiasm and hope that it will be a great season for Real Madrid.”
Madrid have also begun their domestic campaign positively, although Butragueño believes the team remains a work in progress following a summer complicated by the World Cup.
“We’ve started well, but it’s only just begun. There are players who were at the World Cup and have been gradually integrating,” he said. “What we saw at the Bernabéu was extraordinary, and that gives a real boost to all Madrid fans. The demands are constant, and the squad has the quality to meet the fans’ expectations.”
2026/27 Champions League league-phase dates
The complete fixture schedule will be released on Saturday, but UEFA has already established the windows for all eight matchdays.
Matchday 1: September 8–10, 2026
Matchday 2: October 13–14, 2026
Matchday 3: October 20–21, 2026
Matchday 4: November 3–4, 2026
Matchday 5: November 24–25, 2026
Matchday 6: December 8–9, 2026
Matchday 7: January 19–20, 2027
Matchday 8: January 27, 2027
Real Madrid therefore know the eight obstacles standing between them and direct passage to the knockout rounds. Now they must wait for the calendar to determine the exact order in which they will face them.
For Mourinho, it will mark the beginning of another attempt to accomplish something he was unable to do during his first spell in Madrid: lift the European Cup with Real Madrid.
