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UEFA Champions League 2026-27: Matchday 3 Previews

by
kevin
October 20, 2026

The poster shows top-tier teams competing in the UEFA Champions League.

Several clubs proved their resilience with mixed results in the previous Champions League fixtures. SCP defeated Lens, and Sabah claimed a victory against Slavia Praha in their most recent game. Galatasaray lost to Barcelona in their latest fixture. RB Leipzig defeated PSV, while Arsenal defeated LOSC. Atlético beat Manchester United 2-0 in their previous game. Villarreal defeated Napoli, while Viking played out a 3-3 draw against Bayern in their previous match.

Inter suffered a defeat to Club Brugge in their Matchday 2 Champions League fixture. Liverpool defeated LASK, and Feyenoord beat Como in their most recent game. Shakhtar Donetsk claimed a win over AEK, and Betis defeated Porto. Roma suffered a defeat against Real Madrid in their most recent game. Slovan Bratislava lost to VfB Stuttgart, while Aston Villa defeated Fenerbahçe. PSG defeated Man City, and Bodø/Glimt claimed a win against Dortmund in their latest games.

Matchday Schedules

Fixtures	Dates	Time Zone ET	Time Zone PT	Time Zone IST	Locations
Sabah vs Dortmund	October 20, 2026	12:45 PM	09:45 AM	10:15 PM	Baku Olympic Stadium, Baku.
Fenerbahçe vs Slavia Praha	October 20, 2026	12:45 PM	09:45 AM	10:15 PM	Chobani Stadyumu FB Sukru Saracoglu Spor Kompleksi, Turkey.
PSG vs Barcelona	October 20, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Parc des Princes, Paris.
Man City vs AEK	October 20, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Etihad Stadium, Manchester.
Napoli vs Bodø/Glimt	October 20, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Naples.
Porto vs PSV	October 20, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Estádio do Dragão, Porto.
Roma vs Slovan Bratislava	October 20, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Stadio Olimpico, Rome.
Liverpool vs Villarreal	October 20, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Anfield, Liverpool.
VfB Stuttgart vs Atlético	October 20, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	MHPArena, Stuttgart.
Como vs Man Utd	October 21, 2026	12:45 PM	09:45 AM	10:15 PM	Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, Como.
LOSC vs Galatasaray	October 21, 2026	12:45 PM	09:45 AM	10:15 PM	Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Villeneuve-d’Ascq.
SCP vs LASK	October 21, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon.
Betis vs Feyenoord	October 21, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Estadio de La Cartuja, Seville.
Inter vs Shakhtar Donetsk	October 21, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	San Siro, Milan.
Bayern vs Arsenal	October 21, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Allianz Arena, Munich.
Aston Villa vs Viking	October 21, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Villa Park, Birmingham.
Club Brugge vs Lens	October 21, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Jan Breydel Stadium, Bruges.
Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig	October 21, 2026	03:00 PM	12:00 PM	12:30 AM (Next Day)	Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid.

Significant Teams and Possible Lineups

PSG vs Barcelona

Date: October 20, 2026 (Tuesday)

Time: 03:00 PM ET| 12:00 PM PT| 12:30 AM IST (Next Day)

Venue: Parc des Princes, Paris.

Projected Lineups for PSG

Position	Players
Goalkeepers	Alessandro Longoni, Lucas Chevalier, Matvei Safonov, Arthur Vignaud, and Adam Mouak
Defenders	Achraf Hakimi, Lucas Beraldo, Marquinhos, Illia Zabarnyi, Lucas Digne, Lucas Hernández, Nuno Mendes, David Boly, and Willian Pacho
Midfielders	Fabián Ruiz, Maghnes Akliouche, Vitinha, Senny Mayulu, Dro Fernández, Warren Zaïre-Emery, and João Neves
Forwards	Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ferran Torres, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Mika Godts, and Quentin Ndjantou

Projected Lineups for Barcelona

Position	Players
Goalkeepers	Joan García, Wojciech Szczęsny, Dominik Livaković, Eder Aller, and Iker Rodriguez
Defenders	João Cancelo, Alejandro Balde, Pau Cubarsí, Xavi Espart, Andreas Christensen, Gerard Martín, Jules Koundé, Eric García, Pesquer, Landry Farré, Guillem Victor, and Alex Campos
Midfielders	Brian Fariñas, Gavi, Pedri, Rodri, Frenkie de Jong, Marc Bernal, Orian Goren, and Pedro Villar
Forwards	Fermín López, Gabriel Jesus, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Karim Adeyemi, Anthony Gordon, Dani Olmo, Jesse Bisiwu, Hamza Abdelkarim, and Shane Kluivert

Previous Games

PSG defeated Man City in their latest fixture. Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé, Vitinha, and Maghnes Akliouche scored for PSG. Erling Haaland scored twice for Man City. PSG is currently sitting 6th in the Ligue 1 standings with 11 points. They have shown strong form in both domestic and European competitions. In their last five games, PSG have recorded three consecutive wins, one draw, and one loss. By contrast, Barcelona defeated Galatasaray in a UEFA Champions League game. João Cancelo, Fermín López, Anthony Gordon, and Karim Adeyemi scored for Barcelona. Aleksey Batrakov found the net for Galatasaray. PSG have a home advantage, and they will win their upcoming game.

The Pick: PSG

Man City vs AEK

Date: October 20, 2026 (Tuesday)

Time: 03:00 PM ET| 12:00 PM PT|12:30 AM IST (Next Day)

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester.

Projected Lineups for Man City

Position	Players
Goalkeepers	Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marcus Bettinelli, Gerónimo Rulli, and Max-Edgar Chabot
Defenders	Rúben Dias, Marc Guéhi, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Vitor Reis, Joško Gvardiol, Abdukodir Khusanov, Kaden Braithwaite, and Rico Lewis
Midfielders	Elliot Anderson, Mateo Kovačić, Rayan Cherki, Jeremy Doku, Enzo Fernández, Matheus Nunes, Ayyoub Bouaddi, Nico O’Reilly, Phil Foden, and Floyd Samba
Forwards	Iliman Ndiaye, Erling Haaland, Allan Elias, Antoine Semenyo, and Ryan McAidoo

Projected Lineups for AEK

Position	Players
Goalkeepers	Thomas Strakosha, Marios Balamotis, and Alberto Brignoli
Defenders	Harold Moukoudi, Stavros Pilios, Lazaros Rota, Domagoj Vida, Charalampos Lykogiannis, and Filipe Relvas
Midfielders	Kaan Kairinen, Mijat Gaćinović, Lovro Majer, Kervin Arriaga, Răzvan Marin, Petros Mantalos, and Milán Vitális
Forwards	Luka Jović, Oleksandr Zubkov, Aboubakary Koita, Barnabás Varga, João Mário, and Zini

Previous Games

Man City defeated Liverpool in their latest game. Man City recorded more shots and shots on target. Man City enjoyed greater possession, higher passing accuracy, and more corner kicks throughout the game. Liverpool registered fewer shots and shots on target. They had less possession, lower passing accuracy, and fewer corner kicks than Man City. In addition, Man City has shown consistency in both domestic and European competitions. AEK lost to Shakhtar Donetsk in a UEFA Champions League fixture. AEK recorded fewer shots and fewer shots on target. They had less possession and lower passing accuracy than Shakhtar Donetsk. Shakhtar Donetsk registered more shots and shots on target. They had more possession, higher passing accuracy, and more corner kicks.

The Pick: Man City

Inter vs Shakhtar Donetsk

Date: October 21, 2026 (Wednesday)

Time: 03:00 PM ET| 12:00 PM PT| 12:30 AM IST (Next Day)

Venue: San Siro, Milan.

Projected Lineups for Inter

Position	Players
Goalkeepers	Josep Martínez, Raffaele Di Gennaro, and Ivan Provedel
Defenders	John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Benjamin Pavard, Carlos Augusto, Yann Bisseck, Federico Dimarco, Leonardo Bovio, Mattia Marello, Alessandro Bastoni, and Djed Spence
Midfielders	Aleksandar Stanković, Piotr Zieliński, Petar Sučić, Andy Diouf, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Curtis Jones, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Nicolò Barella
Forwards	Marcus Thuram, Lautaro Martínez, Luis Henrique, Ange-Yoan Bonny, and Pio Esposito

Projected Lineups for Shakhtar Donetsk

Position	Players
Goalkeepers	Kiril Fesiun, Dmytro Riznyk, and Rostyslav Bahlai
Defenders	Marlon Santos, Valeriy Bondar, Pedro Henrique, Irakli Azarov, Vinícius Tobías, Alaa Ghram, Oleksandr Karavaiev, and Mykola Matviyenko
Midfielders	Marlon Gomes, Dmytro Kryskiv, Pedrinho, Newertton, Isaque, Viktor Tsukanov, Gabriel Carvalho, Oleh Ocheretko, Yehor Nazaryna, Alisson Santana, Lucas Ferreira, Denys Smetana, Ryan Roberto, Gleiker Mendoza, and Bruninho
Forwards	Lassina Traoré, Kauã Elias, and Luca Meirelles

Previous Games

Inter defeated Parma in their most recent game. Petar Sučić, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, and Marcus Thuram each found the net for Inter. Parma failed to score throughout the match. Inter Milan have also shown strong form in both domestic and European competitions. Shakhtar Donetsk defeated Veres Rivne in their latest fixture. Pedrinho scored twice, while Mykola Matviyenko also found the net for Shakhtar Donetsk. Rostyslav Baran received a red card while representing Veres Rivne. With a home advantage, Inter Milan will aim to earn a victory in their forthcoming fixture.

The Pick: Inter

Bayern vs Arsenal

Date: October 21, 2026 (Wednesday)

Time: 03:00 PM ET| 12:00 PM PT| 12:30 AM IST (Next Day)

Venue: Allianz Arena, Munich.

Projected Lineups for Bayern

Position	Players
Goalkeepers	Manuel Neuer, Sven Ulreich, David Poder-Stiube, and Jonas Urbig
Defenders	Dayot Upamecano, Minjae Kim, Jonathan Tah, Nathaniel Brown, Hiroki Ito, Sacha Boey, Cassiano Kiala, Filip Pavić, and Josip Stanišić
Midfielders	Joshua Kimmich, Tom Bischof, Jamal Musiala, Michael Olise, Alphonso Davies, Konrad Laimer, Ismael Saibari, Bara Sapoko Ndiaye, Lennart Karl, Aleksandar Pavlović, Tim Binder, and David Daiber
Forwards	Serge Gnabry, Harry Kane, Luis Díaz, Bastian Assomo, and Maycon Cardozo

Projected Lineups for Arsenal

Position	Players
Goalkeepers	David Raya, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Illan Meslier, Khari Ranson, Jack Porter, and Jack Talbot
Defenders	William Saliba, Cristhian Mosquera, Ben White, Piero Hincapié, Gabriel, Jurriën Timber, Ezri Konsa, Riccardo Calafiori, Brayden Clarke, Joshua Ogunnaike, Josiah King, Teshaun Murisa, Abraham Owusu-Gyasi, Patrick Stachow, Joshua Tahou, Hakeem Abubakar, Elyon Mbala, Marli Salmon, and Joshua Sesay
Midfielders	Martin Ødegaard, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Mikel Merino, Kai Havertz, Martín Zubimendi, Bruno Guimarães, Declan Rice, Andre Annous, Ife Ibrahim, Theo Julienne, Louie Copley, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Max Dowman, Brando Bailey-Joseph, Maalik Hashi, Saurap Sampang, Emerson Nwaneri, and Charlie Purdy
Forwards	Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyökeres, Christos Tzolis, Ceadach O’Neill, Louis Zečević-John, Marley Frohock, Bowen Phillips, and Jayden Oba

Previous Games

Bayern played out a 3-3 draw against Viking in a UEFA Champions League match. Bayern currently sit tenth in the Champions League standings with four points. Meanwhile, Arsenal defeated LOSC in their most recent fixture. Arsenal currently sits seventh in the UEFA Champions League standings with six points.

The Pick: Bayern

Final Thoughts

Several teams and coaches will face tough tests in the upcoming Matchday 3 Champions League games. Napoli will host Bodø/Glimt on October 20. Which team will secure a win? Napoli, a Serie A team, will aim to maintain its winning streak in this matchup. Liverpool will host Villarreal on October 20. Liverpool will bounce back in their Matchday 3 fixture.

In another key matchup, VfB Stuttgart will host Atlético on October 20. Aston Villa will host Viking on October 21. Which team will secure a victory? Real Madrid will host RB Leipzig on October 21.