The Champions League group stage is back this week, with Manchester City in action on Thursday night.
Erling Haland of Manchester City celebrates his first goal during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Etihad Stadium on September 14, 2025 in Manchester, England.
Manchester City will return to the Champions League this week(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Manchester City begin their Champions League campaign with an unusual Thursday night fixture.
Pep Guardiola's side welcome Napoli for their continental opener with Kevin De Bruyne set to return to the Etihad just a matter of months after departing the Blues. The Belgian was not offered a new contract at City and signed for the Serie A champions in the summer.
His return provides a compelling narrative to an early showdown between two teams who will hope to go far in this season's competition.
But why is the game being played on a Thursday night, a day usually reserved for Europa League and Conference League fixtures?
The answer is UEFA's introduction of exclusive weeks for each of their continental competitions. One week per season is earmarked for Champions League games across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights where no other UEFA fixtures will take place. And matchday one has been chosen for this season's Champions League campaign.
The exclusive weeks were launched last season with the Europa League having matches across two days (Wednesday September 24, and Thursday, September 25) where no other European fixtures take place. The Conference League will be the focus on Thursday, December 18, in a week where there is no Champions League or Europa League matches.
Other Champions League fixtures taking place on Thursday include; Club Brugge vs Monaco, FC Copenhagen vs Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt vs Galatasaray and Sporting vs Kairat Almaty.
City's match with Napoli is an 8pm kick off and will be screened on TNT Sports. The Blues also face Champions League fixtures away at Monaco, Villarreal, Real Madrid and Bodo Glimt, while there are home matches against Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and Galatasaray.
The League phase runs until late January with all teams playing eight fixtures. The top eight sides go straight into the last 16 while those who finish between ninth and 24th - as City did last season - enter a play-off round. Teams who finish in the bottom eight are knocked out of Europe.
---
Here at the Manchester Evening News, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester City coverage and analysis.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe.
You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.
*And finally, if you’d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Talking City podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can also watch along on YouTube.*