Champions League draw: Mourinho’s quest for number 16 begins against Inter, Arsenal and Leipzig

R eal Madrid already know who they will face on their European road to the Sixteenth . The draw held today in Monaco handed the Whites a total of eight opponents for the 2026/27 Champions League league phase , four of them at the Santiago Bernabéu and four others away from home.

The competition also carries a special added incentive on the bench. José Mourinho faces his first Champions League of this second spell with an old unfinished score to settle: the Big Eared trophy eluded him in his first stint at Real Madrid, when he reached three consecutive semifinals without making the final . The Portuguese coach, who has lifted the trophy with other clubs, is now looking to settle that debt and return Madrid to the summit of a tournament the club considers its natural habitat.

Real Madrid's Champions League opponents

The draw was decided with the 36 participants split into four pots according to the UEFA coefficient, so that each team faces two opponents from each pot, one at home and one away. Madrid, placed in the first pot, could not be drawn against other Spanish clubs nor face more than two teams from the same country . The dates and kick-off times for each matchday will be announced over the weekend.

When does Real Madrid play in the Champions League?

Although Real Madrid already knows the names of its first eight opponents and knows which ones it will play against at the Santiago Bernabéu and which ones it will have to visit, there is still no schedule . UEFA will make it public over the weekend, and that will be the time to book tickets for the away matches and seats for the clashes at the Whites' home ground.

The format maintains the structure introduced in previous editions. The 36 teams share a single standings table: the top eight advance directly to the round of 16, while those placed between ninth and twenty-fourth play an intermediate two-legged round . The rest are eliminated, with no Europa League safety net. From the round of 16 onward, the tournament returns to its traditional knockout format through to the final, which this season will be played in its own city, on June 5, 2027 at the Metropolitano stadium.

Old acquaintances, rematches and a debut

The most storied clash will undoubtedly be that with Inter . The two giants have faced each other 19 times throughout history, with Madrid holding the upper hand (ten victories), although the Italians retain a painful episode for Madridismo. They were the executioners in the 1964 final , one of the few finals the club has lost. The reunion also has a special flavor for Mourinho , who won his second Champions League precisely with Inter , in 2010 and on the pitch at the Bernabéu . Recent meetings, however, have smiled on Madrid, who came out on top in both group-stage encounters in 2021/22.

More recent and tinged with revenge is the meeting with Arsenal . The Gunners eliminated Madrid in the quarter-finals of 2024/25 with a convincing 5-1 aggregate scoreline (3-0 at the Emirates, with a Declan Rice brace, and 2-1 at the Bernabéu), in one of the most bitter nights from two seasons ago. Los Blancos, now under Mourinho, will have the chance to make amends for that drubbing.

Roma also falls into the category of familiar old foes. The two teams have crossed paths repeatedly in the present century, always in the top competition, with their last meeting coming in the 2015/16 round of 16 , settled in Madrid's favor. Something similar applies to PSV and Shakhtar Donetsk , recent group-stage opponents against whom the club in white usually comes out on top, although the Ukrainian side — which will play its home matches at Stamford Bridge — has already pulled off a surprise or two, such as the 3-2 win it inflicted at Valdebebas in 2020/21.

Special mention goes to RB Leipzig , whom Madrid already faced in the group stage of 2022/23, and who now reappear with added intrigue: from their ranks comes the most expensive signing in the club's history, Yan Diomande . The list is completed by two exotic opponents: AEK Athens , a very rare matchup, and Austria's LASK , a completely new opponent in the club's European history. Two almost or entirely unprecedented scenarios for a Madrid side that, as always, starts with the status of favorite in its eternal pursuit of the Sixteenth.