The UEFA Champions League returns with Matchday 7 after a break of more than a month. Yet again, we will witness some mouthwatering encounters in Europe’s elite competition. With Sporting facing PSG, Liverpool travelling to Marseille and Arsenal to play Inter at the San Siro, this midweek will bring endless action. With the race for automatic qualification and fight for the knockout play-offs qualification heating up, football fans could be in for a treat in the Champions League this midweek.
Here, we present our preview and predictions for all matches of Matchday 7 of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League.
Both Kairat and Club Brugge have not been in the best of forms. While Kairat has lost their last three encounters in all competitions and are without a win in their last five, Club Brugge has been marginally better, having lost their last two league games but have won two and drawn one game from their last five.
As for personnel availability, Kairat will miss Azamat Tuyakbayev and Dastan Satpaev due to injuries while Club Brugge has Lynnt Audoor and goalkeeper Simon Mignolet doubtful for this game with muscle injuries.
Lying bottom of the Champions League table with no wins and five losses, Kairat are most certainly going to be knocked out of the tournament, hence they would want to win their last home game to at least end the campaign with one home win. As for Club Brugge, they are not very far off, placed 31st in the table but if they win their last two games, they might have an outside chance to qualify for the knockout playoffs. Hence, this is a must win game for the Belgian outfit and one they should win as they do have a superior team.
Club Brugge’s defence has been quite poor, having conceded in all Champions League games until now so they could concede a goal here too but they have enough firepower up front to take the three points from this game.
Score Prediction: Kairat Almaty 1–2 Club Brugge
After the disappointing loss in the Manchester derby this weekend, Man City would like to get back to winning ways in the Champions League. Man City haven’t won any of their last four league games with their only wins coming from the FA Cup and the EFL Cup encounters. Though, they have done well in the Champions League and could be on course to make automatic qualification. As for the hosts, they are placed in a lowly 32nd spot and looking less likely to qualify for the knockout play-offs rounds. However, their recent form hasn’t been poor as they have managed to win three games, lost one and drawn one.
From an injury perspective, Bodø/Glimt are far better placed than City as they have a fully fit squad. In contrast, City are missing key defensive players in John Stones, Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias along with Savinho, Oscar Bobb and Mateo Kovacic.
If we look at the two sides irrespective of form and even with the injury problems, City has the far superior side. It could be difficult for the hosts to contain the visitors’ front line. Although City do have defensive frailties, I still believe they can bag the three points in this tough away fixture.
Score Prediction: Bodø 1–3 Man City
Both teams have shown inconsistent form this season. The Yellow Submarine has won two games and lost three from their last five with their most recent game resulting in a loss to Real Betis. Their last Champions League game also ended in defeat to Copenhagen at home. Ajax has been equally abysmal and are only a place above Villarreal in the league phase table, though they won their last fixture in the competition against Qaraba? FK. However, Ajax’s defensive issues have been apparent, having conceded six goals to AZ Alkmaar in the Dutch Eredivisie recently and also conceded five goals against Chelsea in the Champions League.
Injury-wise, Villarreal don’t have many players out with only Pau Cabanes and Willy Kambwala on the sidelines while Ajax will miss Wout Weghorst, Steven Berghuis and Takehiro Tomiyasu for this game.
Difficult to call this game as both teams have been inconsistent and leaked goals in their games. However, Ajax has been far more open at the back and will also be playing away from home against a decent side. I do think this is going to be an open game with the hosts to edge the encounter.
Score Prediction: Villarreal 3–2 Ajax
Both Dortmund and Spurs have done fairly well in the Champions League with three wins, two draws and a solitary loss. However, Spurs’ recent form has been abysmal with their previous game ending in a loss to 17th placed West Ham at home. Moreover, the Lilywhites are also without a win in their last five fixtures. To pile more pressure on head-coach Thomas Frank, Spurs were also knocked out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa last week. In contrast, Dortmund have been unbeaten in their last five games with three wins and two draws.
Tottenham’s injury woes haven’t helped their cause either. James Maddison, Rodrigo Bentancur and Mohammed Kudus out for the long term with Ben Davies, Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski also on the sidelines. For Dortmund Marcel Sabitzer and Aaron Anselmino will be out of action in this fixture.
Spurs’ home form in the Champions League has resulted in three wins and therefore, it’s not going to be an easy outing for Dortmund despite Spurs’ dismal form. To trouble the Spurs defence though, the German side possesses superb attacking threats in the form of Serhou Guirassy, Karim Adeyemi and Julian Brandt. With Spurs missing key players in Kudus and Richarlison, their goal scoring options might be limited but Dortmund’s defensive weaknesses can still be exposed and hence I believe this game might end in a draw.
Score Prediction: Spurs 1–1 BVB
With only one league phase game to go after this fixture, Olympiacos would be looking to win at home against a tough opponent and try to ensure qualification for the knockout play-offs round. Their previous encounter in the Champions league resulted in a narrow win against Kairat. As for Leverkusen, they have lost a bit of momentum with two consecutive losses in the league after two wins. Leverkusen’s last Champions League performance was a draw at home against Newcastle United.
Injuries have also troubled the German side with a host of players missing out. Mark Flekken, Nathan Tella, Axel Tape-Kobrissa, Edmond Tapsoba, Exequiel Palacios and Eliesse Ben Seghir will all be on the sidelines for this fixture. On the other hand, Olympiacos has been rather fortunate with injuries with only Alexandros Paschalakis unavailable for this game.
With a number of key players missing for Leverkusen, they will certainly field a weakened side and that could pose a problem for Die Werkself as the Olympiacos players aren’t pushovers as they proved against Real Madrid. For all these reasons, Olympiacos playing on home turf hold the edge and could win this encounter by a narrow margin.
Score Prediction: Olympiacos 2–1 Bayer 04
Both teams have similar form in their last five games. While Sporting’s only loss came in the League Cup semis, PSG’s only defeat came in the Coupe de France against local rivals Paris FC. In their previous Champions League game, Sporting suffered a 3-1 away defeat against Bayern Munich while PSG played out a dour goalless draw away against Athletic Club.
Sporting’s injury list consists of key players in Nuno Santos, Ousmane Diomande, Geovany Quenda and Pedro Goncalves. Their opponents PSG will miss Lucas Hernandez due to suspension along with Joao Neves, Kang-In Lee, Matvey Safonov and Quentin Ndjantou.
Even though Sporting is playing at home, PSG is one of the most difficult opponents to defend with their attack and midfield consisting of world class players in Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz along with the highly experienced Luis Enrique as their head coach. Their last Champions league game might have ended in a draw but with most of their first eleven available, PSG is definitely the favourite to bag all three points in this fixture.
Score Prediction: Sporting 0-2 PSG
This is one of the most awaited fixtures of Matchday 7 – a clash between European heavyweights Inter and Arsenal at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.
Arsenal is the only team in the Champions League this season who has won every single game so far and are currently top of the league phase table in the UCL. Both teams are the league leaders in their respective leagues as well though the Gunners have a comfortable seven-point gap in the Premier League while Inter only has a three-point lead in the Serie A. Both teams are unbeaten in their last five with Inter winning four and drawing one while Arsenal has three wins and two draws.
Inter has a fair few out with injuries to Josep Martinez, Raffaele Di Gennaro, Tomas Palacios, Denzel Dumfries and Hakan Calanoglu. Arsenal has Piero Hincapie and Max Dowman on the sidelines with most of their squad recovered and fit.
This isn’t a must-win game for Arsenal as they are almost certain of automatic qualification but for their opponent, three points could be absolutely massive as they have lost their last two Champions League encounters and are desperate for a win. Though Inter is playing at home, the North London outfit possesses the best defence in Europe with genuine attacking threat upfront in form of Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Gabriel Martinelli and Viktor Gyokeres. With both teams relying on maintaining a solid defensive structure, this could be a cagey affair, similar to the Inter vs Liverpool game. Considering Arsenal’s exceptional quality on set-pieces, this game could result in the English club departing the San Siro with a narrow win.
Score Prediction: Inter 0–1 Arsenal
European giants Real Madrid will be up against French Ligue 1 club Monaco at the Santiago Bernabéu in the Champions League this midweek.
With former Real Madrid player Alvaro Arbeloa replacing Xabi Alonso as the head coach, Real Madrid started their first game poorly, getting knocked out by second division side Albacete in the Copa del Rey. However, they recovered their form in the next game, defeating Levante comfortably in LaLiga. Monaco on the other hand have been highly inconsistent and are desperately struggling for form. Their last five games have produced three losses and two wins for the Monegasque club. Real Madrid’s previous Champions League encounter resulted in a defeat against Manchester City while Monaco defeated Galatasaray in their fixture.
Real Madrid will miss the services of Eder Militao, Andriy Lunin, Ferland Mendy and Trent Alexander Arnold for this game. Monaco on the other hand has an injury crisis with Christian Mawissa, Lucas Hardecky, Lucas Michal and Paul Pogba out with short-term injuries while Takumi Minamino and Mohammed Salisu are unfortunately out for the season with ACL injuries.
The European giants have a far superior and experienced squad as compared to Monaco and playing at home, Los Blancos are the undeniable favourites. With Monaco’s injury issues, they will travel to Madrid with a weakened team, making it even more difficult to grab a positive result from this game. Therefore, my prediction for this fixture would be a comfortable Real Madrid win.
Score Prediction: Real Madrid 2–0 Monaco
Danish club Copenhagen will clash with Italian side Napoli in this Matchday 7 Champions League fixture.
Copenhagen defeated Villarreal away from home in their last Champions League fixture in a thrilling affair, going on to win their next two league games but since then, they have dropped points, drawing two consecutive games. Napoli suffered defeat to Benfica in their last Champions League game but has been unbeaten in their last five with three draws and two wins. Though the Italian club has been poor in the Champions League when playing away from home.
The Neapolitan club also has major injury concerns with about seven players injured. Kevin de Bruyne, Andre-Frank Anguissa, Billy Gilmour, Alex Meret, Romelu Lukaku, Eljif Elmas, and Matteo Politano will all be unavailable for this game. Copenhagen will miss Rodrigo Huescas and Magnus Mattson for this game.
Copenhagen have surprised a lot of teams in the Champions League this season by gaining important points from tough encounters and are currently placed in the 24th position and very much with a chance of making the knockout play-offs round. Astonishingly, Napoli are placed just a position above them in the table, not playing up to their usual standards this season and would also need to win in order to secure playoff qualification. Napoli’s inability to win away games could be a genuine concern and based on their previous results, Copenhagen can hardly be taken for granted . Having said this, I still believe Napoli can bag the three points from this game as they possess match-winning players in their ranks.
Score Prediction: Copenhagen 1–2 Napoli
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