What games are taking place on Thursday, September 19 and where can I watch them live? – Firstpost

The new season of the UEFA Champions League kicked off earlier this week with the introduction of a new format at Europe’s premier club football tournament that will see teams play more matches before the knockout rounds.

In the old Champions League format, teams played six matches in the group stage, playing one home and one away match against each team in their group. In the new format, teams will play two more matches than they did before the round of 16 in the old format, and against eight different opponents instead of three.

Two-time title holders Juventus won the opening game of the 2024-25 season on Tuesday, beating PSV Eindhoven 3-1, before Aston Villa beat Young Boys 3-0.

No fewer than six matches took place on Wednesday: defending champions Real Madrid opened their match with a 3-1 victory over Stuttgart and six-time champions Liverpool beat seven-time winners AC Milan by a similar margin.

In Wednesday’s matches, Bayern Munich beat Dinamo Zagreb 9-2, with English striker Harry Kane scoring four of those goals and completing a hat-trick of penalties. In addition, Premier League champions Manchester City started the season with a goalless draw against Italian champions Inter Milan.

Read | UEFA Champions League results, fixtures and table

Thursday’s games will see five-time winners Barcelona and reigning Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen kick off their season alongside other top-class teams such as Arsenal and Atletico Madrid.

Here are the UEFA Champions League matches taking place on Thursday (times in IST):

Crvena Zvezda vs Benfica in Belgrade – 10.15pm

Feyenoord – Bayer Leverkusen in Rotterdam – 10.15 p.m.

Atalanta – Arsenal in Bergamo – 00:30 (Friday)

Atletico Madrid – RB Leipzig in Madrid – 00:30 (Friday)

Monaco – Barcelona in Monaco – 00:30 (Friday)

Brest – Sturm Graz in Guingamp – 00:30 (Friday).

Where can I watch the games live?

You can watch live coverage of the UEFA Champions League on TV on the Sony Sports Network and tune in to the live stream on the SonyLIV website and app.