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

One other season of the UEFA Champions League is upon us, one which teases the potential for shock even in a interval of dominance for a few of Europe’s prime groups and gamers.

Whereas a well-known group of gamers are anticipated to compete for particular person and crew accolades within the continent’s prime membership competitors, a interval of dominance for Actual Madrid and Manchester Metropolis is probably not sufficient to maintain a handful of groups at bay. Sturdy begins to the season for the likes of Barcelona, Arsenal and Liverpool make them real looking contenders for the Champions League title, creating a brand new assortment of top-tier groups that would ship simply as a lot intrigue as the brand new format.

The early storylines of the 2024-25 season additionally led to a diversified checklist of predictions from the CBS Sports activities crew, who anticipate {that a} lengthy checklist of groups may trigger drama because the countdown begins to subsequent spring’s remaining at Munich’s Allianz Enviornment, teasing an entertaining season forward.

Earlier than the league part motion begins on Tuesday, listed here are a batch of predictions to kick off a brand new Champions League season.

Do not miss any of the Champions League. As all the time, you’ll be able to catch all of our protection throughout Paramount+, CBS Sports activities Community and CBS Sports activities Golazo Community all season lengthy.

Listed here are our knowledgeable picks for this matchday:

Professional picks

Winners: If the betting markets are to be believed, this season’s Champions League must be a two horse race between the final two winners. That is smart. Holders Actual Madrid have added one of many Champions League’s finest performers in Kylian Mbappe. Manchester Metropolis stay pretty much as good as they had been. There are, nonetheless, just a few within the chasing pack who make for convincing contenders. Arsenal and Liverpool look to be exceptionally good groups whereas Bayern Munich have all of the expertise they want. What of Barcelona? In league play final season they had been placing up comparable superior metrics to Madrid they usually have begun this marketing campaign in explosive vogue. Keep match they usually would possibly simply be the champion. — James Benge

Greatest shock: Atalanta should not actually be a shock after profitable the Europa League final season, however shedding Gianluca Scamacca to harm and Teun Koopmeiners to Juventus, this crew has potential. New items like Mateo Retegui are gelling properly and Ademola Lookman remains to be on the membership, however that is all all the way down to the management of Gian Piero Gasperini. Atalanta will know what they should do to get the outcomes that they want and it is going to be sufficient to make the knockout phases of UCL. — Chuck Sales space

Greatest disappointment: The large expectation is that Actual Madrid, merely including Kylian Mbappe to their ranks, makes the Spanish giants even stronger and extra more likely to efficiently defend their UCL title. Nonetheless, as their early season kind has proven, it isn’t that easy — it should take time for this crew to gel beneath Carlo Ancelotti. Accidents and unavailability haven’t helped, however getting the likes of Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham to operate successfully and coexist won’t cease being a problem for the Italian grasp tactician within the coming weeks and months. This yr’s Champions League might be too quickly to anticipate Los Blancos to triumph on the continental stage. — Jonathan Johnson

High scorer:  This season’s competitors will seemingly function just a few of the sport’s finest forwards duking it out for the highest scorer prize, however Manchester Metropolis’s Erling Haaland is nice sufficient to edge all of them out. His unvarnished skill to search out the again of the web is his signature after two Golden Boot-winning seasons in England, and he is already created fairly the lead in his third Premier League season – he has 9 targets in 4 video games, six greater than the subsequent closest participant. He has the good thing about a summer season of relaxation in comparison with most others, making him essentially the most cheap candidate to prime the Champions League goalscoring charts by season’s finish. — Pardeep Cattry

High participant: After shifting from PSG to Actual Madrid in the summertime 2024 as a free agent, all of the expectations are on Actual Madrid and Kylian Mbappe, who struggled within the first video games performed thus far. Nonetheless, there are numerous causes to assume he would be the MVP of the season, as he solely provides extra expertise and profitable mentality to a facet that does not battle on this sense, after profitable two Champions League titles within the final three years. Mbappe needs to make historical past at Actual Madrid, and which means profitable the Champions League once more. — Francesco Porzio