Real Madrid's confirmed Champions League opponents ranked from easiest to toughest
Real Madrid have learned their official opponents for the 2026/27 Champions League "League Phase". Here are the eight teams they will face this season, ranked in order from easiest to toughest.
8. LASK
Austrian side LASK are the definition of minnows, and if Real Madrid can't beat them by at least three, then Jose Mourinho will be giving everyone on the team the hairdryer treatment.
7. AEK Athens
Luka Jovic and AEK Athens beckon, and if Carlos Espi can't teach the former Real Madrid striker how its done, there will be huge problems behind the scenes at the Santiago Bernabeu.
6. Shakhtar Donetsk
Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk are alway stricky customers in the Champions League, and even though they don't have the star power on paper that they did in the past, you can never write off the new talents at the club. And as Real Madrid fans will never forget from the 2020/21 season, they are capable of shocking anyone.
5. PSV
PSV have a lot of young talent hiding in their roster with players like Paul Wanner, Dennis Mann, and Kiliann Sildillia, but they also have a great deal of veteran talent like Ivan Perisic, Filip Kostic, and another former 2020/21 Champions League seaosn foe in striker Alasanne Plea (then of Borussia Monchengladbach at the time). PSV are the best team in Dutch football right now and have what it takes to steal a point or three from Madrid if they are not careful.
4. RB Leipzig
RB Leipzig are far less dangerous without Yan Diomande, but they are still one of the biggest sides in Germany and have plenty of midfield and defensive talent to make a match against a Jose Mourinho Madrid a very ugly one.
3. Roma
One of the two Mourinho Bowls in the Champions League for Real Madrid, Roma have huge names like Paulo Dybala and potential Real Madrid center midfield targt Manu Kone. The Giallorossi were dangerous last season in Serie A, and the defensive DNA Mourinho gave them can make life tricky for Real Madrid.
2. Inter Milan
Serie A champions Inter Milan pretty much ran away with the league title. They have an elite defense, a midfield that can control matches even against the mighty Real Madrid, and one of the deepest groups of forwards in European football. Marcus Thuram is a third former Gladbach star, alongside Plea and Kone, who has experience against Real Madrid, and his all around skill set will be a handful for the Madrid center backs.
1. Arsenal
Arsenal already destroyed Real Madrid before in the Champions League, and they are actually the favorites until Madrid can prove otherwise. Losing to former prospect Martin Odegaard is always humiliating, but the midfielder who actually worries them the most is Declan Rice.
