Champions League bracket and live table: Predict your winner for 2026-27 tournament!

The third matchday of the 2026-27 Champions League league phase is about to get underway, after some of the leading contenders for the crown kicked off their quests for glory in perfect fashion in the opening two rounds.

Nine teams remain perfect in the tournament; Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Aston Villa, Stuttgart, Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Real Betis, but at least one of the top two will drop points next time around.

Indeed, leaders PSG and second-placed Barcelona headline matchday three at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday evening, 24 hours before another heavyweight clash pits Arsenal against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

Elsewhere, Liverpool welcome 2021-22 semi-final foes Villarreal to Anfield, Manchester United visit Cesc Fabregas's Italian upstarts Como, Real Madrid host RB Leipzig at the Bernabeu and Aston Villa take on Norwegian outfit Viking, who dramatically held Bayern to a 3-3 draw last time out.

Here, Sports Mole provides a comprehensive Champions League table and live scores, as well as an interactive bracket for the knockout stages, allowing you to simulate the competition and predict your winner based on current league-phase positions.

Champions League 2026-27: What you need to know

For the third year running, Europe's premier tournament - in addition to the Europa League and Conference League - will be running a 36-team league-phase format, as the days of the old group stage are further consigned to history.

The top eight teams will all advance directly to the round of 16, while clubs ranking from ninth to 24th will contest a two-legged playoff for the right to progress to the second knockout round; any sides finishing 25th or lower are eliminated, with no Europa League safety net in contrast to the old format.

Teams were allocated into either Pots 1, 2, 3 or 4 for the league-phase draw based on their UEFA coefficient, and all clubs will face two teams from each pot, one at home and one away.

For the first stage, teams who compete in the same domestic league have been kept apart, and clubs also cannot face more than two sides from a different member association, meaning that Arsenal could not come up against three La Liga outfits, for example.

Should two or more teams find themselves level on points at the end of the league phase, overall goal difference will be the first tie-breaker, after which goals scored, away goals scored, wins or away wins may be needed to separate them.

The league phase runs from September 8 to January 27, and the knockout round commences on February 16, before the final at Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano on June 5. 

PSG are the defending champions after getting the better of Arsenal in last year's final, and the Parisians are aiming to become just the second team to compete a Champions League three-peat in the post-1992 era, after Real Madrid's streak of success between 2014 and 2016.

Como, LASK, Sabah and Viking are all making their maiden appearances in the Champions League proper, while Real Betis are back in Europe's premier competition for the first time in 21 years.