Champions League Round 1: Intriguing matches involving Serie A clubs

MILAN, ITALY – MARCH 11: The UEFA Champions League trophy is cleaned as it is displayed on a plinth at the side of the pitch prior to the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Round of 16 Second Leg match between FC Internazionale Milano and Feyenoord at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on March 11, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Napoli, Inter, Juventus and Atalanta are about to begin their 2025-26 Champions League campaign, so here’s what to expect from this season’s Serie A representatives in Round 1.

Champions League football returns next week with some exciting matches involving Serie A clubs.

This season, Italian football has four representatives with Atalanta, Juventus and Inter joining defending Scudetto champions Napoli in Europe’s elite club competition.

As usual, it will be hard to predict this season’s winner, as, for example, many did not see PSG lifting the cup a year ago, especially after the departure of Kylian Mbappé.

Predicting Champions League winner in 2026

However, MightyTips website is among the most prominent experts in sports predictions, and above all, football match predictions, and those following their tips regularly probably didn’t see PSG’s triumph in 2024-25 as a massive surprise.

With more European action coming up and a host of top sides ready to challenge the Ligue 1 giants this term, MightyTips will provide all the necessary information to pick the winning side of each contest and navigate through the complexity of the league phase of the Champions League.

Italians clubs in the Champions League Round 1

Juventus will be the first Italian club playing in the Champions League this season, hosting Borussia Dortmund in Turin on September 16. Igor Tudor’s men will welcome the Germans just a few days after a key game against Inter in Serie A, but already beat Borussia 2-1 in an away friendly meeting on August 10.

PSG will host Atalanta in their first European game as defending champions and will probably force La Dea to rely on counterattacks to get a result. The game will be played on September 17 at 21:00 CET.

Inter also have a tricky game at Ajax on the same day, but will be expected to show they are still among the best clubs on the continent after reaching the final last season, upsetting other European giants such as Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

Inter have used a mixed playing style under new coach Cristian Chivu, and although they’ll travel to Amsterdam to win by dominating possession, they also may need to rely on a low block and counterattacks at times, to hurt their opponents.

Last but not least, Napoli will travel to Manchester City for a much-anticipated reunion between Kevin De Bruyne and his former club. The Etihad Stadium showdown will be played on September 18 at 21:00 CET.

“Last year, I predicted that if I stayed in Europe, I would return to City in the Champions League. I know it will be strange. City is my club and that will never change,” De Bruyne recently said.

“Conte’s style is very different from Pep. He’s much more tactical and a bit slower. The style of play is different, but so are the pitches, which are drier. This makes it harder to maintain the pace.”