Too close to call. Champions League jeopardy hangs over PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Man City

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City are among the giants of European soccer preparing for a nervy final round of matches in the opening phase of the Champions League on Wednesday.

All face the prospect of being consigned to the playoffs on a bumper night of 18 matches in Europe's elite club competition.

Only eight teams will advance directly to the round of 16. The next 16 teams face a two-legged playoff to complete the lineup in the knockout phase.

After seven rounds, first-place Arsenal and Bayern Munich in second are the only teams certain of progress.

That sets up a potentially thrilling night of action with just three points separating third-place Madrid and Juventus in 15th.

Eight teams, from PSG in sixth to Atalanta in 13th, are bunched up on 13 points. That raises the prospect of some volatile movement depending on results.

PSG is at home to Newcastle. The French giant is ahead of the English club on goals scored and a loss or a draw could see the defending champion drop out of the top eight.

Hoping to climb into the automatic qualification places are Barcelona and City, both on 13 points.

Barcelona is at home to Copenhagen and 2023 Champions League winner City hosts Galatasaray.

“I prefer to have more (points) but it is what we deserve,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. "We need to focus and try to win our game then see what position we finish.

“We’ll see the result in the last 10 minutes and then we will see (what we have to do). We have to focus on our game, that’s the key.”

PSG and City ended up in the playoffs last season with wildly different outcomes. City missed out on the round of 16 after being eliminated by Madrid, while PSG went on to win the competition for the first time.

“I would sign up for a defeat or a draw (against Newcastle) and be in the top 15 like last season,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “If you tell me we’ll be in the top 15 and then win the Champions League outright.”

Chelsea is eighth but there is much more jeopardy on its opponent Napoli.

The Serie A champion is 25th in the standings, one place below the playoffs, and faces the humbling prospect of elimination. With Napoli's ex-Premier League title-winning Chelsea coach Antonio Conte coming up against his former team, this represents one of the most mouth-watering clashes of the night.

“I know (Chelsea) very well. I know their ambitions. They are Club World champions. We have to give it our all,” Conte said. “We cannot underestimate them. We know what it means to play on our home turf. It would be great to see a wave of blue supporting us.”

Two-time Champions League winner Jose Mourinho could be another high-profile coach exiting the competition at the first stage, with Benfica needing to beat his former club Madrid and relying on other results to make the playoffs.

Madrid is third on 15 points and still not certain to finish in the top eight.

Five Premier League teams make up the top eight, with Arsenal leading and Liverpool fourth on 15 points.

Liverpool would expect to qualify directly, given it hosts Azerbaijan's Qarabag on Wednesday. Qarabag, however, has been one of the surprise packages this season and is in the playoff positions.

Tottenham is fifth on 14 points and its performances in Europe have provided a rare source of encouragement for coach Thomas Frank, who is under increasing scrutiny over his team's domestic form.

Spurs travel to already-eliminated Eintracht Frankfurt.

Arsenal should become the first team to complete a perfect opening league phase when it hosts last place Kairat. This is the second season of the new format that replaced the previous group stages.

In the previous format, 13 teams advanced with perfect records but only had to play six games before the knockout phase.

Arsenal will have won eight games if, as expected, it overcomes Kairat.

While a number of top teams face the potential of the playoffs, the automatic qualification spots could still be dominated by Europe's elite if Barcelona and City can force their way in.

The previous format was considered to have grown stale, with not enough jeopardy riding on games.

Arguably Napoli would represent the only major shock if it failed to make the playoffs, which could lead to accusations that the new format still produces predictable outcomes.

However, the fact there are so many uncertainties going into the final round suggests the format is creating ample jeopardy right to the end.

The playoffs draw is at 12:00 CET on Friday.

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Barcelona's Dani Olmo reacts after a missed scoring opportunity during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Real Oviedo in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Villarreal and Real Madrid in Villarreal, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola looks on during a press conference in Manchester, England, Tuesday Jan. 27, 2026, one day ahead of their Champions League soccer match against Galatasaray. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he has signed an executive order to “cut through bureaucratic red tape” and speed up reconstruction of tens of thousands of homes destroyed by the January 2025 Los Angeles area wildfires.

Trump's order, signed Friday, seeks to allow homeowners to rebuild without contending with “unnecessary, duplicative, or obstructive” permitting requirements, the White House said in a statement.

The order directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration to find a way to issue regulations that would preempt state and local rules for obtaining permits and allow builders to “self-certify” that they have complied with “substantive health, safety, and building standards.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom scoffed at the idea that the federal government could issue local rebuilding permits and urged Trump to approve the state's $33.9 billion disaster aid request. Newsom has traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate for the money, but the administration has not yet approved it.

The Democratic governor said on social media that more than 1,600 rebuilding permits have been issued in Los Angeles and officials are moving at a fast pace.

“An executive order to rebuild Mars would do just as useful,” Newsom wrote on social media. He added, “please actually help us. We are begging you.”

Fewer than a dozen homes had been rebuilt in Los Angeles County as of Jan. 7, one year after the fires began, The Associated Press found. About 900 homes were under construction.

The Palisades and Eaton fires killed 31 people and destroyed about 13,000 residential properties. The fires burned for more than three weeks and cleanup efforts took about seven months.

It wasn’t immediately clear what power the federal government could wield over local and state permitting. The order also directs federal agencies to expedite waivers, permits and approvals to work around any environmental, historic preservation or natural resource laws that might stand in the way of rebuilding.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that instead of trying to meddle in the permitting process, the Trump administration should speed up FEMA reimbursements.

Bass called Trump's move a “political stunt” and said the president should issue an executive order “to demand the insurance industry pay people for their losses so that survivors can afford to rebuild, push the banking industry to extend mortgage forbearance by three years, tacking them on to the end of a 30-year mortgage, and bring the banks together to create a special fund to provide no-interest loans to fire survivors.”

The mayor said rebuilding plans in Pacific Palisades are being approved in half the time compared to single-family home projects citywide before the wildfires, “with more than 70% of home permit clearances no longer required.”

Permitting assistance is “always welcome,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivor’s Network, a coalition of more than 10,000 Eaton and Palisades fire survivors, but it’s not the primary concern for those trying to rebuild.

“The number one barrier to Eaton and Palisades fire survivors right now is money,” said Chen, as survivors struggle to secure payouts from insurance companies and face staggering gaps between the money they have to rebuild and actual construction costs.

Nearly one-third of survivors cited rebuild costs and insurance payouts as primary obstacles to rebuilding in a December survey by the Department of Angels, a nonprofit that advocates for LA fire survivors, while 21% mentioned permitting delays and barriers.

In addition, Trump's executive order also directs U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FEMA acting administrator Karen Evans to audit California’s use of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding, a typical add-on in major disasters that enables states to build back with greater resilience. The audit must be completed within 60 days, after which Noem and Evans are instructed to determine whether future conditions should be put on the funding or even possible “recoupment or recovery actions” should take place.

Trump has not approved a single request from states for HMGP funding since March, part of a wider effort to reduce federal funding for climate mitigation.

This story has been corrected to reflect that Trump last approved an HMGP request in March, not February.

Aoun Angueira reported from San Diego.

FILE - A person walks amid the destruction left behind by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - An aerial view shows houses being rebuilt on cleared lots months after the Palisades Fire, Dec. 5, 2025, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)