Is there anyone who can beat Liverpool? Are Bayern Munich back among the favorites after beating PSG? How far can Arsenal go in the competition this year? Should Atletico Madrid and Atalanta be getting more love? And where do Inter Milan rank after another quality Champions League victory?
After another wild week of Champions League action, let’s rank the best eight teams in the competition after five matches played.
8. Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid turned Sparta Prague into mincemeat, winning 6-0, and while you have to say that this result was nothing less than expected, you have to consider Atleti one of the Champions League contenders right now on the strength of their resume in the competition this season.
Los Rojiblancos own quality wins over PSG and RB Leipzig, and they’ve now bounced back after getting thrashed by both Lille and Benfica. It’s a bit of a gamble to take Atleti over Real Madrid and Manchester City, but I actually trust their defensive structure and even coaching more than I do the others.
Furthermore, Atleti’s attack is starting to kick into high gear, and I think a lot of people underestimate how good their offense is. Antoine Griezmann is one of the best in the world, Julian Alvarez is close to being world-class, Alexander Sorloth is as good of a finisher as anyone in European football, Angel Correa is a brilliant super-sub, and Giuliano Simeone is the man of the hour as another key spark.
7. Bayer Leverkusen
I think some people have been disappointed with Bayer Leverkusen this season, but they’ve been strong in the Champions League when you look past their 4-0 blowout loss to Liverpool.
Leverkusen had an easy win over RB Salzburg, and while it’s hard to trust a “smaller” team that got blown apart by their biggest challenge in the competition thus far, Leverkusen were undefeated last season and still have the majority of that talent carrying over.
So in theory, they should be even stronger this season with Florian Wirtz, Victor Boniface, and the others all close to their peaks. Wirtz as a difference-maker alone is worth a spot on this list, and I’d rather hitch my wagon on them than teams with either a fraction of their star power or with a more questionable manager (looking at you, Don Carlo).
6. Atalanta
OK, now we get into the serious part of the rankings, because everyone beyond the top six isn’t even worth talking about as a possible Champions League contender – darkhorse or otherwise.
Atalanta are awesome. It is striking to see how confident they are at attacking the football, and it is difficult not to be enamored with the finishing of Mateo Retegui, the dynamism of Ademola Lookman, and the ingenuity of Charles De Ketelaere.
It is hilarious how badly AC Milan whiffed on CDK, because he’s the real X-Factor for Atalanta on these big Champions League nights. I still think that, ultimately, La Dea’s defense is too weak for them to be serious contenders, but they can beat anyone in this competition with an attack that may second best to only Barcelona’s.
5. Arsenal
Arsenal had a string of poor showings, but when you take a step back, their only truly negative result in the Champions League this season was a 1-0 loss to Inter Milan, and there’s no shame in losing to the reigning champions of Serie A by a small margin.
The Gunners have now beaten Sporting CP and Nottingham Forest by a combined scoreline of 8-1 after going five Premier League and Champions League fixtures without a win.
I have a hard time seeing a team without a standout scoring option as a legitimate Champions League title contender, but if they get the right draw in the knockouts, there’s no way you can fully count Arsenal out.
Because when Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka are healthy, all they really need is one of Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, or Gabriel Jesus to be in form. If even two of those guys are scoring goals, Arsenal have the midfield and defense to light anyone up.
The problem is that the season is long, and as Arsenal saw over the last few weeks, all you need is a couple of key injuries to completely ruin your chances. Therefore, it’s still too risky to give Mikel Arteta’s team a spot at the “elite” table.
4. Inter Milan
Inter Milan are still very much in the mix in the Serie A title race despite sitting behind Napoli and even Atalanta in the league table, and, if anything, their attack is even stronger with Marcus Thuram outplaying Lautaro Martinez in his second season and Mehdi Taremi adding serious quality from the bench.
What Inter need is a better right wing back and some more scoring impetus from a midfield that has been a little quieter than it was last season. All told, though, Inter are so tough to pick against because they don’t implode in games.
You know that with the majority of their squad, those guys are going to have a 6/10 at worst and usually give you a 7.5, including on the big stage. It’s easy to forget, but Inter pushed Manchester City to their limit in the 2023 Final, and if they had Thuram then as they do now, you wonder if they would have spoiled Erling Haaland’s treble debut.
3. Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich had to win against a PSG side that has been disappointing throughout the 2024/25 Champions League campaign, and they did exactly that, proving that they can still grind out ugly wins on the UCL stage despite mostly being known for high-flying goal-scoring exploits in the Bundesliga.
Jamal Musiala and Harry Kane are as good of an attacking duo as you’ll find in Europe, and while there should be concerns about a host of wingers who have fallen off from their best days as well as a subpar defense, when those guys actually show up to play and care, Bayern are just about unstoppable.
Again, Bayern suffer from a similar consistency problem as a few other clubs in this competition, and I’m not sure how many people are backing them as a true title contender.
But they are in the conversation. They are better than a record of three wins and two losses indicates, and as we saw last season, they have a way of finding an entirely different level when the stakes are at their highest.
2. Barcelona
Although Barcelona had no troubles defeating Brest 3-0, they have begun to show some cracks in the armor after a 1-0 loss to Real Sociedad and a 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo in La Liga.
A little bit of regression was always inevitable, though, and it is equally important to remember that not only are Barcelona without their best player in Lamine Yamal, but they have also been without their two most established center backs in Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen.
Barcelona are deep at center back and in midfield, and while they do have depth question marks on the flanks, when their main attacking quartet is healthy, three goals is the minimum of what they are capable of.
They’ve only scored three total in two games without Yamal, but Yamal is coming back soon. That Barcelona are so reliant on two of their superstars is concerning, and perhaps that should rank them closer to Arsenal. But their sheer brilliance with everyone at full strength ultimately shines through.
1. Liverpool
Liverpool are by far the best team in European football right now when looking at their hunger, talent level, makeup of the squad, consistency, depth, and well-roundnedness.
They have improved by leaps and bounds from the 2023/24 season, which was already a marked improvement from a 2022/23 campaign in which they could only muster Europa League qualification.
If there were any lingering doubts about how good Liverpool are, they shattered all of them with a resounding 2-0 victory over long-time Champions League nemesis Real Madrid.
Liverpool could have easily won that match by five if it weren’t for the heroics of Thibaut Courtois. The Reds overran Jude Bellingham and Luka Modric in midfield, made Antonio Rudiger look like a second-rate center back, sent Ferland Mendy to the Saudi Pro League, and turned Kylian Mbappe into the walking embodiment of disappointment.
They did what they have done all season long in the Premier League, where the have opened up a commanding lead that they can extend further this weekend with a win over Manchester City,
Arne Slot has turned his side into the finest machine in Europe, and, to be honest, this Champions League Power Rankings list could just as easily have been 1,500 words gushing about Liverpool, such is the gulf between them and the rest of the pack.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.