Champions League Tonight: Bayern vs Arsenal Headlines 9 Games

Matchday 3 of the Champions League league phase finishes on Wednesday, Oct. 21 with nine games. Bayern Munich at home to Arsenal is the headline tie, Real Madrid host RB Leipzig, and Manchester United travel to Como for the early kickoff. It is the third of eight rounds in the league phase, and the 36 team table starts to sort itself out from here: the top eight at the end of January go straight to the round of 16, the teams from ninth to 24th go into a knockout play-off round, and the bottom 12 are out.

Tonight's games, Eastern Time

Kickoff 12:45 p.m. ET: Como vs Manchester United, Lille vs Galatasaray.

Kickoff 3:00 p.m. ET: Bayern Munich vs Arsenal, Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig, Inter vs Shakhtar Donetsk, Aston Villa vs Viking, Club Brugge vs RC Lens, Real Betis vs Feyenoord, Sporting CP vs LASK Linz.

The form guide

Arsenal are the form team of the night. They won 1-0 at Napoli on Matchday 1 and beat Lille 3-0 on Matchday 2, so they travel to Munich on six points without conceding a goal. Bayern have scored freely without looking secure: a 5-0 win over Bodo/Glimt on the opening night, then a 3-3 draw away to Viking.

Real Madrid have won two tight games, 2-1 at home to Inter and 4-3 at Roma. Leipzig, their visitors tonight, lost 4-1 at Como on Matchday 1 and recovered to beat PSV Eindhoven 1-0. Como then lost 3-2 at Feyenoord, while Manchester United opened with a 4-0 win over Sabah and lost 2-0 at Atletico Madrid. Inter are the big name in early trouble: defeats by Real Madrid and Club Brugge, the second a 4-3 loss at home, leave them on zero points before Shakhtar Donetsk visit Milan. Shakhtar drew 1-1 with PSV and beat AEK Athens 3-1.

What Tuesday brought

Tuesday's nine games produced 40 goals. Results: Paris Saint-Germain 4-2 Barcelona, Liverpool 4-3 Villarreal, Manchester City 5-1 AEK Athens, Roma 4-0 Slovan Bratislava, Napoli 4-3 Bodo/Glimt, Porto 0-1 PSV Eindhoven, Fenerbahce 2-2 Slavia Prague, Sabah 1-2 Borussia Dortmund, Stuttgart 1-1 Atletico de Madrid. A win tonight takes Arsenal to nine points and Bayern to seven, and every winner joins the group setting the early pace in the table.

What comes next

Matchday 4 follows on Nov. 3 and 4. Bayern travel to Atletico Madrid and Manchester United host Roma on the Tuesday, and Arsenal go to Slavia Prague on the Wednesday, when Real Madrid host AEK Athens in the early slot. The league phase runs until Jan. 27, when all 18 games on the final night kick off together.

How to watch

In the United States, every game streams on Paramount+, with select games on CBS Sports Network, according to NBC Sports. In the United Kingdom, the games are on TNT Sports and HBO Max, with Bayern Munich vs Arsenal on TNT Sports 1 at 8 p.m. UK time.