Title holder PSG, Mourinho's Madrid aim to resist big-spending English rivals in Champions League

The Champions League starts this week with five Premier League clubs in the 36-team lineup, chasing a first title for England in four seasons after yet another transfer window of heavy spending amid an affordability crisis for most of European soccer.

Two-time defending title holder Paris Saint-Germain and record 15-time European champion Real Madrid each has lifted the trophy as many times this decade, twice, as Premier League clubs have combined.

Manchester City, the last English team to win the Champions League in 2023, starts Tuesday at Porto armed with a new $440 million midfield: Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson and 18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi.

Liverpool hosts Atletico Madrid on Wednesday having paid PSG 125 million euros ($145 million) to add Bradley Barcola and can start a forward line with three of the 13 most expensive transfer fees in soccer history, alongside Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz.

Nine of the top-10 transfer fees this offseason were paid by English clubs. The exception was Real Madrid's 125 million euros ($145 million) buy of 19-year-old Ivory Coast winger Yan Diomande from Leipzig.

If Madrid wins this Champions League under José Mourinho, its prize money from UEFA out a 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion) total fund would just about cover Diomande's fee and the returning coach's salary. Madrid starts against Inter Milan on Tuesday.

PSG’s biggest buy this offseason — midfielder Maghnes Akliouche for 50 million euros ($58 million) from Monaco — did not even make the top-30 transfer fees worldwide this offseason.

On Wednesday, PSG hosts Slovan Bratislava to start its quest for a third straight title.

In the 35-season Champions League era, only Real Madrid coached by Zinedine Zidane — who is now finally in charge of the France national team — won three straight, from 2016 to ’18.

It was simpler in the old European Cup format that was a straight knockout bracket for national champions plus the defending champion. Madrid won the first five finals, starting in 1956, then Ajax and Bayern Munich each went back-to-back-to-back in the 1970s.

Still, PSG is a strong contender again after also adding Spain’s World Cup-winning goal scorer Ferran Torres into coach Luis Enrique’s famously hard-working team.

PSG has failed to win any of its four games so far in France where the domestic season started less than one month after the longest-ever World Cup.

Should PSG have a slow start in this Champions League campaign, it would hardly be a surprise. The eventual champions finished 11th and 15th in the 36-team standings in the past two editions, and had to survive the knockout playoffs round in February.

The Slovakian title holder returns after losing all eight games when the 36-team league format debuted in 2024.

There might be more momentum this time under new coach Yaya Touré, a Champions League winner with Barcelona in 2009, then a club great at Man City.

The 43-year-old former Ivory Coast captain in his first head coach job steered Slovan through three qualifying rounds — beating the champions of Georgia, Sweden and Slovenia — to become the first African coach to lead a team into the main phase.

The early starters Tuesday, kicking off at 6:45 p.m. (1645 GMT) in Central Europe, are Club Brugge hosting Aston Villa and AEK Athens at home to newcomer LASK.

Europa League title holder Villa impressed in the season-opening Super Cup game, losing 2-1 to PSG in Salzburg. Villa’s start to the Premier League is similar to PSG in France: three games, no wins, no goals scored.

José Mourinho first coached Real Madrid in 2010 when he left Inter Milan upon delivering a Champions League title.

Mourinho has returned to Madrid for a second spell 16 years later, still with the same two career Champions League titles he had then. The road to a third starts Tuesday at home to Inter in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium where that 2010 final was won against Bayern.

Inter is among five clubs apart from Madrid in this Champions League edition that Mourinho has coached, and the Italian champion is led by one of his players from the 2010 title team, Cristian Chivu.

Mourinho was Manchester United coach in 2017 when a club called Sabah was created in Azerbaijan. Nine years on, Sabah makes its Champions League debut Thursday at Old Trafford to face a United team coached by Michael Carrick who was captain back then for Mourinho.

Como coached by Cesc Fabregas debuts hosting Leipzig on Thursday in its small Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium in perhaps the most picturesque location in the competition.

The other debutants are Austrian champion LASK, thanks to a stunning turnaround against Celtic in the playoffs, and Norway's champion Viking.

Norway was a quarterfinalist, unluckily losing to England, in its first World Cup for 28 years and now has two teams in the Champions League.

The Nordic country had none for 18 years until Bodø/Glimt's breakthrough last season, and now the Cinderella club from inside the Arctic Circle has advanced through the qualifying rounds alongside Viking which won its first domestic league title for 34 years.

Viking debuts at Stuttgart on Wednesday and Glimt is at Bayern on Thursday.

Now in its third season, the revamped Champions League format gives each of the 36 teams eight games against eight different opponents, with four at home and four away.

The top eight in the standings on Jan. 27 advance direct to the seeded bracket for the round of 16 in March. Teams placed ninth to 24th enter the two-leg knockout playoffs round in February. Teams from 25th to 36th are eliminated.

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

From left, Arsenal's Kai Havertz, Arsenal's Gabriel, Arsenal's Christos Tzolis react during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Chelsea in London, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

Real Madrid's head coach Jose Mourinho gestures during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Betis and Real Madrid in Seville, Spain, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland, left, celebrates with Avyoub Bouaddi and Antoine Semenyo, right, after scoring his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Manchester City in London, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Liverpool's Bradley Barcola, centre, challenges for the ball with Ipswich Town's Dara O'Shea during the English Premier League soccer match between Ipswich Town and Liverpool in Ipswich, England, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

Lebanon ’s Health Ministry says Israeli airstrikes on a southern village have killed 12 people, including two children.

Meanwhile, Iran-backed Houthi rebels claim to have shot down a Saudi reconnaissance plane. And seven crew members of a Saudi-owned tanker struck last week on the strait appear to remain unaccounted for.

Here’s a look at the latest news in the Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

Israel carried out airstrikes early Monday on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Rumman, killing at least 12 people, including a paramedic, four women and two children, the Health Ministry said.

The strikes came during a new round of escalation between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah. Israel's military said it struck several Hezbollah militants it accused of transferring weapons to Kfar Rumman.

The military also said it was reviewing the claim that “several uninvolved civilians were harmed” in overnight strikes across southern Lebanon, which it said were in response to Hezbollah militants launching explosive drones against soldiers in the area of the Ali Taher ridge.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels downed a Saudi armed reconnaissance aircraft on Monday in the northern part of Yemen, Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a statement.

The aircraft was detected in Jawf province’s airspace, according to Saree, who said the aircraft belonged to neighboring Saudi Arabia and was seeking to carry out “hostile actions.”

The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify that claim. There was no immediate Saudi comment.

Saree added that over the past 24 hours, a total of three reconnaissance drones belonging to Saudi Arabia were downed, including one that was spotted Monday morning in Bayda province.

The Yemeni government armed forces said in a post on X that they targeted Houthi gatherings in Dahle province and launched 13 airstrikes targeting Houthi positions and a missile launch base in Bayda province. Other airstrikes targeted Houthi fronts in Marib province. The Houthi military didn’t address those claims.

The U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, called the Houthis’ expansion of fighting across several front lines “extremely alarming” and warned of its broader impact on Yemenis.

A senior official with the United Arab Emirates says “no single state” should control the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran said it plans to announce a new “exclusion zone” near the waterway aimed at vessels intending to transit.

“Our energy exports will not be held hostage, nor will our trade and economic activity,” Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said at a forum of world leaders in Abu Dhabi.

Gargash said Iran should face consequences for threatening oil tankers and commercial vessels in the strait with mines, drones or missiles. “Using an international waterway as an instrument of coercion is unacceptable,” he added.

The UAE, a close U.S. ally, has repeatedly come under Iranian missile and drone fire throughout the war. Rebuilding trust between Iran and the Gulf countries could take decades, Gargash warned, because by targeting its neighbors, Tehran has “demolished” any presumption of good faith.

Oman said it had evacuated 16 crew members from a Saudi-owned tanker attacked last week in the Strait of Hormuz. The Sidr tanker was attacked by Iran off Oman, and Saudi Arabia earlier said two Filipino seafarers were killed.

Oman’s Maritime Security ​Center said on X that 16 of the 25 crew members were rescued. It didn’t give details on the remaining seven.

If the seven are confirmed dead, that would make the attack the deadliest on a commercial vessel since the war began on Feb. 28.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank community of Hajja mourned the death of Omar al-Toubasi, who was killed in a confrontation with Israeli settlers.

Israel’s military said in a statement that soldiers were sent to Hajja on Sunday to disperse a confrontation and fired toward Palestinians allegedly throwing stones at soldiers after warning shots. “Hits were identified,” the military said.

“The army came and made matters worse,” witness Mohammed al-Batta said, adding that settlers had started the confrontation by beating a local man. He said soldiers “started using tear gas and sound bombs at the residents. Gunfire broke out from the two sides.” He said several others were injured.

Attacks on settlers in the West Bank have surged since the war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the United Nations humanitarian office.

The top diplomat overseeing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, called for the implementation of President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war there, including the withdrawal of Israel’s military and the disarming of Hamas.

He also warned that rising violence in the occupied West Bank could obstruct a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

“Because with everything that is happening in the West Bank — and with more than 50% of Gaza now under the control of the Israeli army and less than 50% under the control of Hamas — there is no credible pathway forward to a political resolution of the conflict,” Mladenov said at the Hili Forum, a gathering of world leaders in the United Arab Emirates.

Kosovo has formalized its commitment to the International Stabilization Force for Gaza, according to the U.S.-created Board of Peace overseeing the fragile ceasefire.

The force would deploy to areas of the Palestinian territory administered by an incoming technocratic committee. While there was no information about the number of troops Kosovo would provide, a Board of Peace official said it is expected to contribute about 25 personnel. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the numbers have not yet been finalized.

The statement says Kosovo security personnel have deployed at ISF headquarters for months, working on logistics, operations to clear unexploded weapons and civil affairs.

Overall committed troops to the force remain far short of the expected 20,000. Uganda, Morocco, Kazakhstan and Albania also have made commitments.

— Matthew Lee in Washington

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Omar al-Toubasi who was killed during clashes with Israeli army soldiers last night, during his funeral in the West Bank village Hajja, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Rescue workers search for victims under the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern village of Kfar Rumman, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A boy rides a bicycle past gulls gathered along the shore of the Strait of Hormuz in Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People watch rescue workers use excavators as they search for victims under the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern village of Kfar Rumman, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)