Manchester United are one of the sides in action on Thursday (Picture: Getty) The Champions League returns this week with 18 matches taking place across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. While Tuesday and Wednesday fixtures are a traditional part of the competition, games taking place on a Thursday are a less familiar sight for Champions League audiences. This is because UEFA has decided that the first week of the Champions League should be exclusive to the competition, with no fixtures from the Europa League and Conference League taking place. The Europa League’s exclusive week, meanwhile, will take place on Wednesday, September 16 and Thursday, September 17. Exclusive Premier League previews Get ahead of the start of the season with our weekly football newsletter. Sign up now for free. After the exclusive first week, the Champions League will revert back to its usual schedule with games staged across Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Incidentally, the Europa League will also return to its Thursday night programme from the second matchday onwards. Bayern Munich will have to wait until Thursday to get their campaign underway (Picture: Getty) Manchester United are amongst the teams who will be playing in the Champions League on Thursday this week, with Michael Carrick’s men hosting Azerbaijani side Sabah at Old Trafford. Elsewhere, Bayern Munich welcome last season’s surprise package Bodo/Glimt to the Allianz Arena, while Champions League debutants Como play RB Leipzig. Champions League matchday one 8pm kick-off unless otherwise stated Tuesday, September 8 Club Brugge vs Aston Villa (5.45pm) AEK Athens vs LASK (5.45pm) Porto vs Manchester City Real Madrid vs Inter Dortmund vs Villarreal Lille vs Betis Wednesday, September 9 Barcelona vs Feyenoord (5.45pm) Stuttgart vs Viking (5.45pm) Napoli vs Arsenal Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid PSG vs Slovan Bratislava Sporting vs Galatasaray Thursday, September 10 Fenerbahce vs Roma (5.45pm) PSV vs Shakhtar Donetsk (5.45pm) Bayern vs Bodo/Glimt Slavia Praha vs Lens Como vs RB Leipzig Man Utd vs Sabah What about the early kick-offs? The opening round of fixtures consists of six games starting at 5.45pm, and the early matches will continue to be a part of the Champions League schedule throughout the season. The early kick-off time was introduced by UEFA for its club competitions in 2021 in an attempt to boost international viewing figures for matches. The move hasn’t been universally popular, however, with one common complaint being that fans commuting home from work often miss the start of the match on TV. The early start also leaves little time for match-going supporters to reach the stadium on time after work – and not to mention the fact they are often travelling during peak public transport times. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source