The final day of Matchweek 1 in the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League is set to bring fireworks, with several competitive games on the docket. The first two days have already seen plenty of excitement: Borussia Dortmund and Juventus played out an enthralling 4-4 draw, Qarabag managed its first ever Champions League win, and Virgil Van Dijk scored a stoppage-time winner for Liverpool.
For the entirety of Matchweek 1, DraftKings is running a promotion in which you get your stake back as a bonus bet in three-way Moneyline bets if the game is a draw at the end of 90 minutes.
To help you get started, I’ll identify my three favorite Moneyline bets from Thursday’s six-game slate at DraftKings Sportsbook.
First, let’s take a look at the full slate:
Monaco at Club Brugge, 12:45 p.m. ET
Bayer Leverkusen at F.C. Copenhagen, 12:45 p.m. ET
Galatasaray at Eintracht Frankfurt, 3 p.m. ET
Napoli at Manchester City, 3 p.m. ET
Barcelona at Newcastle, 3 p.m. ET
Kayrat Almaty at Sporting Lisbon, 3 p.m. ET
AS Monaco Moneyline (+145)
The Monegasque side is unlikely to win Ligue 1 any time soon — reigning World Cup champions PSG have a stranglehold over the French top flight — but they’ve consistently been among the best of the rest. They’re off to a strong start this season, sitting third in the table with a 3-0-1 record, and their only loss was to a strong Lille side that was one of the surprise packages of last season’s Champions League and has been even stronger than PSG in the early going. Maghnes Akliouche leads Le Rocher with three goal contributions, though Takumi Minamino has netted twice as well and Lamine Camara has provided a pair of assists. American striker Folarin Balogun has a goal and an assist. The highest-profile summer arrival was Lukáš Hrádecký, who has converted 66.7% of his save opportunities this season.
Club Brugge sits fifth in the Belgian Pro League through six matches, which is a huge disappointment given that it hasn’t yet played Royale Union-Saint Gilloise, which won the division last season and leads it so far in 2025-26. Though Brugge had a dominant display across four qualifying matches, ousting RB Salzburg 4-2 and Rangers 9-1, a 3-1-2 league record is pretty disappointing, especially since those losses came to Mechelen and La Louvière, which finished eighth in the top flight and second in the second tier last season, respectively. In particular, Brugge’s attack has been disappointing, as it has scored just seven goals in six games. The back line has been fine — goalies Nordin Jackers and Simon Mignolet have combined to save 82.6% of the shots on target they’ve faced — but football is fundamentally about putting it in the back of the net.
I have more faith in Balogun, Akliouche, and Minamino to get one past Jackers than I do in Hans Vanaken, Nicolo Tresoldi, or Christos Tzolis to put one past Hrádecký. Though Vanaken and Tzolis were both regular starters for Brugge last season, neither even reached 10 league goals, and one of last season’s joint-top scorers, Gustaf Nilsson, has fallen out of favor with the club and has yet to suit up. Minamino had three goals in last season’s Champions League, and Akliouche had two as a 22-year-old. Both Vanaken and Tzolis scored just one in the Champions League, and both Brugge players that scored more have since left the club.
Barcelona Moneyline (+135)
Barcelona had a tremendous season in 2024-25, winning La Liga, the Spanish Supercup, and the Copa Del Rey and coming within a few minutes of advancing to the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain. The Blaugrana have picked up where they’ve left off in 2025-26, picking up three wins and a draw, including a dominant 6-0 display against Valencia without Lamine Yamal on Sunday. The 18-year-old winger aggravated a groin injury while on duty with the Spanish national team and will miss tomorrow’s game, with the team simply aiming for him to be available for the October 1 clash against the title-holders. Even without Yamal, though, Marcus Rashford and Roony Bardghji are capable of picking up the creative slack. Yamal, Ferrán Torres, and Raphinha have made up arguably football’s most dangerous front three, with Robert Lewandowski coming off the bench. New arrival Joan García has been dominant between the sticks.
Newcastle, meanwhile, is in a transitional period after losing star striker Alexander Isak after his much-anticipated transfer to Liverpool finally went through right at the end of the summer. The Magpies have looked relatively unimpressive this season, winning once, drawing twice, and losing once in four Premier League matches. The draws have come against Aston Villa and Leeds United and the win came against Wolves, all three of which could conceivably be in a relegation battle come season’s end. Newcastle has primarily struggled with its attack, scoring just three goals, the fourth-fewest in the Premier League. Isak replacement Nick Woltemade, a Stuttgart product, did score just 29 minutes into his debut, and the defense has been elite.
Even at St. James’ Park, where the Magpies actually produced better chances than Liverpool in their Matchweek 2 defeat, Barcelona being available at plus-odds is a steal. Sure, the Blaugrana drew with Rayo Vallecano prior to the international break, but several of their best players, including defenders Ronald Araújo and Pau Cubarsí, sat. Even with Gavi injured as well, Marc Casado is one of Europe’s best young defensive midfielders, and the back line is healthy besides Alejandro Balde. Newcastle doesn’t have enough up front to stop Barcelona.
Galatasaray Moneyline (+220)
Though teams in Europe’s top five leagues typically dominate the latter phases of the competition and amass the best talent, this game carries upset potential. Galatasaray’s attack is stacked, with former Napoli striker Victor Osimhen making his transfer permanent over the summer. Plus, former Manchester City and Barcelona midfielder İlkay Gündoğan and Bayern Münich forward Leroy Sané both joined on free transfers. That’s not to mention veteran Mauro Icardi, who’s been one of the Süper Lig’s best forwards for years. With so much attacking talent, it’s no surprise that Galatasaray has won all five of its Süper Lig matches so far, scoring 15 and conceding just one. Goalies Günay Güvenç and Uğurcan Çakir have combined to save 11 of the 12 shots on target they’ve faced.
Frankfurt was impressive in 2024-25, pipping Borussia Dortmund to finish third in the Bundesliga. But Die Adler lost both of their leading scorers from that tremendous campaign, as Omar Marmoush left for Manchester City in the winter and Hugo Ekitike joined Liverpool over the summer. So far this season, 19-year-old Can Uzun has picked up some of Marmoush’s and Ekitike’s goal-scoring slack, netting thrice and recording a pair of assists in three matches, and Jean Mattéo Bahoya has chipped in with three goal contributions of his own. Goalkeeper Michael Zetterer has saved a solid 76.5% of his opportunities in his first season for the club after arriving from Werder Bremen. Still, Frankfurt could afford to be cleaner at the back: opponents have managed 16 shots on target already, the fifth-most in the Bundesliga.
It’s hard to compare stats between the Bundesliga and the Süper Lig, given how top-heavy the Turkish top flight is, but it’s hard to argue with 15 goals scored and only one conceded. Plus, Galatasaray’s players have much more Champions League experience: Sané has 23 goals and 16 assists in 73 UCL appearances, Osimhen has nine goals in 17, Icardi 11 in 25, and Gündoğan 28 goal contributions in 107. The latter also captained Manchester City in the 2023 Champions League title game. Eintracht Frankfurt may have a deeper roster — its combined market value is 324.9 million Euros, compared to Gala’s 296.73 million — and home-field advantage, but the experience should give the Turkish side the edge.
