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Champions League Power Rankings: Bayern Munich are new No. 1; Arsenal and Liverpool rise

Written by CBS SPORTS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on November 7, 2025

Champions League Power Rankings: Bayern Munich are new No. 1; Arsenal and Liverpool rise

Bayern look like potentially the best team in Europe, but there are plenty of others making noise

Nov 6, 2025 at 4:45 pm ET • 5 min read

The dust has settled on another match day of Champions League soccer, and there’s a new number one in the table, Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich. Behind a brace from Luis Diaz, the Bavarians were able to withstand Diaz’s red card and win 2-1 over Paris Saint-Germain. It’s a significant victory as Bayern now have 16 wins from 16 matches between the league and UCL.

Their defensive improvement under Kompany has been something to watch, and Harry Kane has been one of the best strikers in the world alongside Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. But even while defeating PSG, it was Kane’s pressing and not his scoring that made the difference. If Bayern can win in different ways, they could be in line for their first Champions League title since the 2019-20 season.

Adding Jonathan Tah from Bayer Leverkusen has improved the defense in a big way, and the attack has multiple match-winners who can all rotate to make a team pay. This win was enough for Bayern to rise to number one in the UCL power rankings, but how has the dust settled behind the German giants?

Don’t forget — you can watch the UEFA Champions League all season long with every game airing on Paramount+.

Rank	Team	Change	Analysis
1	Bayern Munich	+3	Luis Diaz was box office viewing with a brace and a red card, and Vincent Kompany’s defense held serve to vault the German giants to number one.
2	Arsenal	+2	As the other contenders begin to pick up losses, Mikel Arteta’s Gunners continue to win and keep clean sheets. It’s not pretty, but it’s effective. If Arsenal continue to avoid mistakes, the first UCL title in club history could follow.
3	Inter	+2	Finally allowing their first goal in UCL play, Cristian Chivu will be fine with that as Inter’s undefeated start continues.
4	Liverpool	+3	Have the Reds awoken from their slumber? You never know what Liverpool will show up on any day, but the one that took down Real Madrid is who we expected to see.
5	Manchester City	+4	Someone finally joined Erling Haaland in scoring goal, and unlocking Phil Foden is the key to winning this competition.
6	Paris Saint-Germain	-5	Suffering a loss to Bayern Munich isn’t a cause for concern but injuries to Ousmane Dembele, Achraf Hakimi, and Nuno Mendes could threaten to derail things for the reigning champs.
7	Real Madrid	-5	When your goalkeeper has a claim to be the man of the match in a loss, it leaves questions to be answered. Xabi Alonso has had a great start to life at Madrid but improvement is needed quickly to keep pace.
8	Newcastle United	+4	Backed by their defense and one of the best midfields in the world, the Magpies don’t miss Alexander Isak and could make some noise as the top 10 teams get more English by the day.
9	Galatasaray	+1	Far and away the best UCL side outside of the top five leagues, Victor Osimhen is on a mission to fire Galatasaray past every team in their path, and it’s working.
10	Barcelona	-4	As is, this defense can’t win the Champions League. Barcelona’s attack can hang with the best teams in the world, but allowing three goals to Club Brugge should ring alarm bells.
11	Chelsea	-3	Rotation was expected away to face Qarabag, but the Blues’ issues at striker persist. Those dropped points could come back to bite them.
12	Atletico Madrid	+2	Atleti are back. Julian Alvarez is leading the attack, and while defensive concerns remain, this team is a tough out.
13	Borussia Dortmund	-2	It’s a loss away to City, while it sucks, just have to move on and not repeat it.
14	Tottenham	+2	What can’t Mickey Van De Ven do? Going coast to coast down a man to score from open play, he’s been excellent this season, and while Tottenham aren’t pretty, they’ve been effective.
15	Sporting Club Portugal	+2	Going into Turin and leaving with a point is a solid performance. Even without Ruben Amorim and Viktor Gyokeres, no one will want to play Sporting.
16	Napoli	-3	Without Kevin De Bruyne, this team is crying out for a creator, and not being able to put a goal past Frankfurt at home is quite concerning.
17	Qarabag	+4	Bonus points in UCL play are critical to advancing. Drawing Chelsea at home would qualify in that category.
18	Monaco	+6	Folarin Balogun scored, and Monaco took all three points. Life is good.
19	Atalanta	—	We love a late winner. It was a rough start to the season for Atalanta but they just may be getting things together.
20	Juventus	-2	A draw is better than a loss. It’s hard to know what to make of Juve but to their credit, they do stay in matches.
21	Marseille	-6	The losses are piling up, and we’re past the point where you can say, at least Marseille have good performances. They need results fast.
22	Club Brugge	—	Scoring three goals on Barcelona is great, allowing three isn’t as great but Brugge will be happy with the draw.
23	PSV	—	Ricardo Pepi has tied Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Aguero for the most result-changing goals after the 90th minute (added time and extra time) in UCL history with his third to secure a draw against Olympiacos.
24	Eintracht Frankfurt	+1	Keeping their first clean sheet of the league phase, Frankfurt would’ve liked to win, but after allowing 10 goals in their last two matches, this is growth.
25	Athletic Club	-5	Another away match and another loss for the Spanish side. This has become a nightmare season for Bilbao.
26	Bayer Leverkusen	+5	Defeating Benfica in the battle of teams without a win in the league phase, there’s still hope for Leverkusen.
27	Union Saint-Gilloise	-1	At least the Belgian side scored, but the defense is still allowing too many goals.
28	Villarreal	-1	Allowing a team to secure their first win in UCL history is a moment to forget for the Yellow Submarine.
29	Benfica	-1	It’s time to have a conversation about Jose Mourinho in top-level management. Still without a win in the league phase, Benfica are digging themselves a hole that they might not get out of.
30	Pafos	+6	Securing the first UCL win in their history, it’s a time to celebrate. We’re in a weird situation where six points could lead to a spot in the knockout stages, so there’s hope.
31	Slavia Prague	-2	Not that they had much of a chance to defeat Arsenal, but not having a real chance to score is disappointing.
32	Olympiacos	+2	So close to an important win, only to end in a draw to PSV. The Greek side need points sooner rather than later.
33	Bodo/Glimt	-1	Picking up a red and dropping more points, Bodo/Glimt were underdogs who may have been able to rise to the occasion, but that doesn’t seem to be coming.
34	Copenhagen	-4	You’ll have the memories of possibly being in a Puskas highlight reel.
35	Kairat	—	In what has been a campaign where Kairat are happy to be there, they now have the distinction of being the first team to put a goal past Inter.
36	Ajax	-3	Thanks for coming, change is needed at Ajax, and they’re now at rock bottom of the league phase table.