This is not the first time the Champions League has played 3 days in the opening week. This is UEFA's idea for the first day of European club-level cup competitions to focus all attention on the Champions League.
For Man United fans, in recent years, they have participated in the Europa League a lot. Usually in a week of European cup competitions, the Champions League will be played for 2 days, the remaining day belongs to the Europa League and Conference League. Therefore, when Man United returns to the Champions League but plays on the last day, "Red Devils" fans still have the feeling that their team is playing in the Europa League.
For the first time since the 2023-24 season and also the first time of the League Phase format (classification round), Man United fans will hear the Champions League soundtrack again at Old Trafford.
The Premier League has 5 representatives participating in the Champions League: Aston Villa, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man United. Villa is the team that played earliest when traveling to Club Brugge's stadium in Belgium. Man United is the team that played latest when hosting Sabah (Azerbaijan team) at home.
From the 2023-24 season, the concept of "exclusive Champions League week" has been popularized by UEFA, referring to the first week when European cups return. Instead of the matches of the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League usually take place on the same week, each tournament will have a separate week to fully convey its appeal. However, the Champions League is the only tournament in the 3 leagues to receive such a 3-night schedule. The "exclusive" week of the Europa League will have matches taking place in the early morning of Thursday and Friday, while the separate week of the Conference League only has matches in the early morning of Friday. From the 2nd round of the Europa League and Conference League onwards, all matches will only take place in the early morning of Friday (Vietnam time).
The two most notable teams in the 3rd night of round 1 of the Champions League qualifying round this week are Bayern Munich and Man United. They will host Bodo/Glimt and Sabah respectively. In this season's qualifying round, Bayern and Man United also have a clash and "The Bavarians" are naturally rated higher even though they have to play at Old Trafford on January 21, 2027.
Last season, there was a match where Real Madrid had to fly back and forth with a total distance of several thousand km to be guests at Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan) stadium. However, because Man United still has a weekend schedule in the Premier League (Manchester Derby), if they have to fly to Azerbaijan to be guests against Sabah, it will be a disaster for the preparation towards the 4th round of the Premier League this weekend.
In this season's qualifying round, in addition to Bayern Munich, Man United also faces another big team, Atletico Madrid. That is the match "The Red Devils" must play away in Spain on October 14, 2026, so the percentage of points is also very low for Michael Carrick's team.
