The 2025/26 Champions League campaign will officially begin with the league phase in mid-September, and as anticipation builds for the start of the new season, it’s time to preview the competition from all angles.
Although most of the attention on individuals tends to focus on superstars contending for the Ballon d’Or or new signings set to make a contender even stronger, a lot of times the best teams in the Champions League are defined by stars who are able to find their best form again.
Look no further than PSG last season, led by one of the Ballon d’Or favorites, Ousmane Dembele, who experienced something of a career renaissance and the fulfillment of his true potential as the leader of a revived PSG attack sans Kylian Mbappe.
Other rebound candidates included Ryan Gravenberch getting his career back on track after a poor spell in Bayern Munich, Inigo Martinez getting a new lease on life in Barcelona under Hansi Flick, and the fairytale spring of Francesco Acerbi in majestic Milano.
Who will be this season’s big bounce back candidates among top Champions League clubs? And will any of them have a say in how the competition’s knockout stages ultimately shake out? Let’s take a look at five men to watch.
Manchester City FW Phil Foden
We begin with Phil Foden, whose plummet from literal Premier League Player of the Season winner to scoring just seven goals and two assists was quite alarming and represented a literal third of the goals and assists production he posted in the 2023/24 season.
Manchester City are a much better team when Foden is at his best, and the Citizens were a nonfactor in both the Champions League and Premier League last season, nearly missing out on Champions League football entirely for the 2025/26 campaign.
There are new faces in Manchester with Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki reinforcing an attack that let Kevin De Bruyne move on to Napoli, but it all doesn’t gel together full without the technical brilliance and versatility of Foden.
Often called overrated, Foden is actually quite underrated, and his all-around positional brilliance in the past has proven to be a real X-Factor for Manchester City in the Champions League.
If Foden can return to being the player who scored 19 goals and 8 assists in the 2023/24 Premier League season, then Manchester City immediately launch higher up the list and join fellow Premier League title contenders Liverpool and Arsenal in being Champions League title contenders again. He’s that pivotal.
Real Madrid FW Rodrygo Goes
Rodrygo Goes has made a demand to start on the left wing for Real Madrid amidst a deluge of transfer rumor and innuendo this summer, and judging by the fact that he started in this position against Real Oviedo on Matchday of La Liga and was not transferred, it appears Real Madrid are keeping him and acquiescing to his request to compete directly with Vinicius Junior.
As Vinicius continues to be mired in contract negotiations with Madrid over a contract that is simply not in his destiny until his performances improve, Rodrygo looks to be the one to reap the rewards by playing more frequently in his favored position.
Since Rodrygo is more of a playmaker and better at linking up with other forwards, his short-area game could make him a better fit for Pichichi winner Kylian Mbappe at striker as Real Madrid look to wash away the sour taste of their trophyless 2024/25 campaign.
New manager Xabi Alonso is not married to Vinicius Jr., as Carlo Ancelotti was, and since he doesn’t have three Champions League titles to fall back on as Real Madrid coach like the Don before him, the Spanish international is going to be more inclined to starting his best XI possible.
A hero of Champions Leagues past for Los Merengues, Rodrygo had an awful 2024/25 season, particularly from a goal-scoring standpoint, but he was also sacrificing his best position. Vinicius Jr. got to play there and was, quite frankly, just as bad, if not worse from a team-orientation perspective.
The 2025/26 season is a vital one for Real Madrid’s attack as a whole, but it is also an opportunity for Rodrygo to breathe new life into the squad and prove himself to Alonso, who is open to just about anything developing up front.
Arsenal AM Martin Odegaard
A former Real Madrid prospect, Martin Odegaard has found his groove in North London, quickly becoming captain at Arsenal and one of the team’s three biggest building blocks alongside fellow attacker Bukayo Saka and French central defender William Saliba.
Odegaard has been the glue ticking the side as the main playmaker and technician, and Arsenal were right there in title contention in back-to-back Premier League seasons.
But while they still came in second last season, they were a lot further behind in 2024/25, with Liverpool running away with the league. Arsenal forged further ahead in the Champions League than Liverpool, but they were knocked out by the same team, PSG, and were not quite as close to knocking them off as the Reds.
The tie against PSG exposed Odegaard’s weaknesses, including his inability to rise to the moment against elite competition. Odegaard frustrated on the periphery of the match, failing to create any chances while being taken out of the game by a PSG midfield that ran circles around him.
Odegaard’s recent injuries are also concerning, and given his track record of injuries in La Liga, Arsenal have to hope he can stay healthy this season. The Norwegian superstar short-changed the Gunners last year, and while he wasn’t poor, a return of three goals and eight assists in the Premier League with three goals and a meager assist in the Champions League is far from the return they would have expected from a supposed world-class playmaker in his prime years.
More is expected of Odegaard, and if he fails to deliver the goods for the Gunners, Arsenal can now turn to a new face, Eberechi Eze, in the playmaker role to service new striker Viktor Gyokeres and true top star Saka.
Juventus ST Dusan Vlahovic
Dusan Vlahovic is already on the outside looking in at the striker position, even if the Bianconeri aren’t able to bring Randal Kolo Muani back from Paris for an encore season on loan.
The Serbian international was once the second hottest thing in world football after Erling Haaland while at Fiorentina before his move to Turin ultimately turned his carer south.
When healthy and in a functioning team, Vlahovic’s athleticism and raw finishing makes him about on par with Gyokeres as a danger up front. But when he’s lacking in confidence, Vlahovic is a disaster.
Juventus have already bumped out Vlahovic for free agent striker Jonathan David, who has been far more consistent and productive over the last couple of seasons, remaining in Lille before trying his hand at a more well-known club in the Old Lady.
But the overall Juventus attack is still up for grabs, and if Vlahovic can bring out the best in himself with his back against the wall and just months remaining before he exits as a free agent, perhaps he can find a way to combine with David – who should be his best striker partner yet in Turin – and form a deadly partnership for a goal-needy Bianconeri.
Inter Milan CM Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Henrik Mkhitaryan has been a fixture in Serie A since reviving his career after that infamous Alexis Sanchez swap deal between Premier League rivals Manchester United and Arsenal that ruined both careers.
Like Sanchez, Mkhitaryan ended up finding success later on with Inter Milan and winning the Scudetto. Last season, though, the 36-year-old Armenian legend’s legs finally began to show, and he was getting fried on a regular basis by elite teams in the Champions League knockouts by the end of the season.
Inter ended up trophyless in 2024/25, and the leginess of the midfield was a huge reason why. The Nerazzuri collapsed, and they were run ragged, in particular, by Luis Enrique’s well-oiled Parisian midfield machine in the Champions League Final.
Mkhitaryan is still penciled in as a starter for Inter, and even if he gets usurped by an experienced Serie A player like Davide Frattesi or Piotr Zielinski or a young gun like Kristjan Asllani or new signing Petar Sucic, Inter are still going to need him to be a key player if someone gets hurt or as a substitute in the Champions League knockouts.
When Mkhitaryan is in the mood, he is still one of the best all-around midfielders in Europe with his ball-winning, progression, passing accuracy, and game intelligence. But when he’s gassed out, he’s a massive liability, and Inter are going to need the good version of Mkhitaryan if they want to win what should be a more competitive Champions League this time around.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2011. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has contributed to sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. Joe’s work has appeared in ESPN, Bleacher Report, and Sports Illustrated. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling, respectively.