Champions League tips: Experts disagree about Kylian Mbappe; Real Madrid, Barcelona and Arsenal all have chances to win

A new season of the UEFA Champions League is just around the corner and it holds the potential for surprises, even at a time of dominance by some of Europe's best teams and players.

While a familiar group of players are expected to compete for individual and team honours in the continent's premier club competition, a period of dominance by Real Madrid and Manchester City is looming. may not be enough to keep a handful of teams in check. Strong starts to the season from teams like Barcelona, ​​Arsenal and Liverpool make them realistic contenders for the Champions League title, creating a new crop of top teams that could be just as exciting. as a new format.

The first storylines of the 2024-25 season also led to a varied list of predictions from the CBS Sports team, who believe a long list of teams could create drama as the countdown to next spring's finals at Munich's Allianz Arena begins, anticipating an exciting season.

Before the action in the league phase starts on Tuesday, here are a series of predictions for the start of the new Champions League season.

Don't miss a thing from the Champions League. As always, you can follow all of our coverage all season long on Paramount+, CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo Network.

Here are our expert tips for this matchday:

Tips from the experts

Winner: If the betting markets are to be believed, this year's Champions League should be a neck-and-neck race between the last two winners. That makes sense. Defending champions Real Madrid have signed one of the Champions League's best players in Kylian Mbappe. Manchester City are still as good as ever. However, there are some pursuers who pose compelling challenges. Arsenal and Liverpool look to be exceptionally good teams, while Bayern Munich have all the talent they need. What about Barcelona?? They reached similar peaks to Madrid last season and have started the new season explosively. Stay fit and they could be the champions. — James Benge

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

Biggest disappointment: The big expectation is that simply signing Kylian Mbappe will make Real Madrid even stronger and enable them to successfully defend their UCL title. However, as their early-season form has shown, it is not that simple – it will take time for this team to gel under Carlo Ancelotti. Injuries and absences have not helped, but getting players like Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham to function effectively and coexist together will be a challenge for the Italian master tactician in the coming weeks and months. This year's Champions League may be too early to expect a triumph for Los Blancos on the continental stage. — Jonathan Johnson

Top scorer: This competition will likely feature some of the game's best strikers battling it out for the top scorer award, but Manchester City's Erling Haaland is good enough to beat them all. His unflinching ability to put the ball in the net is his trademark after two seasons of winning the Golden Boot in England, and he's already carved out quite a lead in his third Premier League campaign – he's scored nine goals in four games, six more than the next player. He has the advantage compared to most of having had a rest over the summer, making him the most likely candidate to top the Champions League goalscoring charts at the end of the season. — Pardeep Cattry

Top players: After joining Real Madrid from PSG in the summer of 2024 as a free agent, all expectations rest on Real Madrid and Kylian Mbappe, who has struggled in the first few games so far. However, there are many reasons to believe that he will be the MVP of the season, as he only adds more experience and a winning mentality to a team that has no problems in that regard, having won 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