UEFA Champions League Team of the Week: Spanish Stars Shine
UEFA’s first “team of the week” for the 2026/27 Champions League has landed, and Spain’s fingerprints are all over it.
Three Spaniards make the cut – Marc Bartra, Pau Torres and Ferran Torres – alongside Barcelona captain Raphinha and Real Madrid’s returning giant in goal, Thibaut Courtois. It’s an early snapshot of a season that already looks wide open, but some individual performances were impossible to ignore.
Courtois back under the lights
In Madrid, the old script returned. Inter Milan came to the Santiago Bernabéu, created chances, and ran into a wall called Thibaut Courtois.
The Belgian faced eight shots and repelled seven of them in Real Madrid’s victory, a reminder that when the Champions League anthem plays, few goalkeepers lock in quite like him. His presence alone reshapes a game; his inclusion in UEFA’s XI feels less like a nod and more like a statement that he is back at the centre of the European stage.
Bartra leads Betis’ big return
For Betis, this week was about more than just a match. It was a return to the Champions League, and Marc Bartra made sure it came with a result to remember in Lille.
UEFA’s technical report underlined him as “Betis’ defensive leader”, and the description fits. He combined tactical maturity with aerial dominance, and didn’t just protect his own box – he decided the game at the other end. Two headed goals, towering above defenders, turned a historic night into a winning one. Betis came back to Europe’s elite, and Bartra marked the occasion with the kind of performance that defines a campaign.
Pau Torres, everywhere for Aston Villa
Aston Villa’s win over Club Brugge carried the imprint of Pau Torres from one penalty area to the other.
At the back, he cleared everything. Eight clearances – the most in the match – underlined how often he snuffed out danger in his own box. But he didn’t stop there. Higher up the pitch, he created four chances and laid on two assists, a remarkable attacking output for a central defender. Villa prevailed, and Torres walked off as the game’s quiet conductor, dictating both the defensive line and the tempo of their attacks.
Raphinha drives Barcelona’s charge
At the Olympic Stadium, Barcelona dismantled Feyenoord 5-1, and their captain set the tone from the first whistle.
Raphinha led the press with ferocious intensity, hounding defenders, forcing mistakes, and constantly offering runs in behind that stretched the Dutch side to breaking point. He drifted between the lines, picked up dangerous pockets, and then applied the finishing touch. Two “magnificent goals”, as UEFA’s report put it, crowned a display that blended work rate with star quality. This was a captain’s performance, not in speeches, but in sprints, tackles and decisive strikes.
Ferran Torres announces himself in Paris
In Paris, a new chapter began for Ferran Torres, and he wasted no time writing his name into PSG’s European story.
Against Slovan Bratislava, he delivered his first hat-trick for the club. The goals stood out, but so did the way he found them. UEFA’s observers highlighted not just his composure in front of goal but his movement – clever, constant, and perfectly timed. He kept appearing in the right place at the right moment, slipping into gaps, reading the play a split second quicker than everyone else. By the final whistle, he had turned a routine group-stage outing into a personal showcase.
A first snapshot of a long campaign
UEFA’s opening team of the week offers only a glimpse of what this Champions League season might become, yet it already hints at familiar themes. Courtois towering in Madrid. A resurgent Spanish core shining across Europe. New leaders emerging in Barcelona, Betis and Aston Villa. A forward in Paris catching fire.
Matchday one has drawn its first line-up. The question now is who can stay in that company when the stakes rise and the nights get even heavier.
