Champions League picks: Experts split on Kylian Mbappe; Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal all in the mix to win

Another season of the UEFA Champions League is upon us, one that teases the potential for surprise even in a period of dominance for some of Europe’s top teams and players.

While a familiar group of players are expected to compete for individual and team accolades in the continent’s top club competition, a period of dominance for Real Madrid and Manchester City may not be enough to keep a handful of teams at bay. Strong starts to the season for the likes of Barcelona, Arsenal and Liverpool make them realistic contenders for the Champions League title, creating a new collection of top-tier teams that could deliver just as much intrigue as the new format.

The early storylines of the 2024-25 season also led to a varied list of predictions from the CBS Sports team, who anticipate that a long list of teams could cause drama as the countdown begins to next spring’s final at Munich’s Allianz Arena, teasing an entertaining season ahead.

Before the league phase action begins on Tuesday, here are a batch of predictions to kick off a new Champions League season.

Don’t miss any of the Champions League. As always, you can catch all of our coverage across Paramount+, CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo Network all season long.

Here are our expert picks for this matchday:

Expert picks

Winners: If the betting markets are to be believed, this season’s Champions League ought to be a two horse race between the last two winners. That makes sense. Holders Real Madrid have added one of the Champions League’s best performers in Kylian Mbappe. Manchester City remain as good as they were. There are, however, a few in the chasing pack who make for convincing contenders. Arsenal and Liverpool look to be exceptionally good teams while Bayern Munich have all the talent they need. What of Barcelona? In league play last season they were putting up comparable advanced metrics to Madrid and they have begun this campaign in explosive fashion. Stay fit and they might just be the champion. — James Benge

Biggest surprise: Atalanta shouldn’t really be a surprise after winning the Europa League last season, but losing Gianluca Scamacca to injury and Teun Koopmeiners to Juventus, this team has potential. New pieces like Mateo Retegui are gelling well and Ademola Lookman is still at the club, but this is all down to the leadership of Gian Piero Gasperini. Atalanta will know what they need to do to get the results that they need and it will be enough to make the knockout stages of UCL. — Chuck Booth

Biggest disappointment: The big expectation is that Real Madrid, simply adding Kylian Mbappe to their ranks, makes the Spanish giants even stronger and more likely to successfully defend their UCL title. However, as their early season form has shown, it is not that straightforward — it will take time for this team to gel under Carlo Ancelotti. Injuries and unavailability have not helped, but getting the likes of Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham to function effectively and coexist will not stop being a challenge for the Italian master tactician in the coming weeks and months. This year’s Champions League could be too soon to expect Los Blancos to triumph on the continental stage. — Jonathan Johnson

Top scorer:  This season’s competition will likely feature a few of the game’s best forwards duking it out for the top scorer prize, but Manchester City’s Erling Haaland is good enough to edge them all out. His unvarnished ability to find the back of the net is his signature after two Golden Boot-winning seasons in England, and he’s already created quite the lead in his third Premier League season – he has nine goals in four games, six more than the next closest player. He has the benefit of a summer of rest compared to most others, making him the most reasonable candidate to top the Champions League goalscoring charts by season’s end. — Pardeep Cattry

Top player: After moving from PSG to Real Madrid in the summer 2024 as a free agent, all the expectations are on Real Madrid and Kylian Mbappe, who struggled in the first games played so far. However, there are many reasons to think he will be the MVP of the season, as he only adds more experience and winning mentality to a side that doesn’t struggle in this sense, after winning two Champions League titles in the last three years. Mbappe wants to make history at Real Madrid, and that means winning the Champions League again. — Francesco Porzio