Matchday 4 of Champions League play brought the heat and the upsets with Copenhagen and Shakhtar Donetsk picking up landmark victories over Manchester United and Barcelona respectively. It was a couple of days that saw six teams qualify for the knockout stages as some of the standard contenders are through along with a surprise team. Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Inter, Real Sociedad, and Red Bull Leipzig have all qualified and power rankings are beginning to reflect their separation from the rest of the bunch.
Many things go into ranking teams which span from contenders to those who are happy just to be in the competition, so let's take a look at the latest edition of Champions League Power Rankings which, as always, come after each matchday of the tournament. Check out the Matchday 3 rankings if you want to see where teams were before this week's games.
| Rank | Name | Change | Analysis |
| 1 | Manchester City | -- | No surprises here, Manchester City are one of the first teams to make it through to the round of 16 and an Erling Haaland brace got them there. An injury to John Stones is concerning but now Pep Guardiola has the flexibility to rotate his squad after locking up a spot in the knockout rounds. |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 2 | Stop the presses, Real Madrid have won a game without Jude Bellingham in the starting XI. Brahim Diaz opened the scoring, Vinicius Junior kept it going and Braga were left without answers as Rodrygo added a third. All around excellent from Los Blancos. |
| 3 | Bayern Munich | -1 | Harry Kane continues to do what he does best, scoring with ease to send Bayern Munich flying into the last 16. It wasn't their best match and Jamal Musiala left the pitch with an injury but these are issues for future Bayern Munich |
| 4 | Inter | 1 | Doing just enough to advance works when a striker like Lautaro Martinez is on your side. Inter are through to the last 16 with ease as the shape of the knockouts are beginning to shake out. |
| 5 | Arsenal | 1 | The Gunners ran circles around Sevilla and the attack was able to get the job done even with Martin Odegaard sidelined. Mikel Arteta has a team that can compete on any day. |
| 6 | Real Sociedad | 1 | Ahead by three goals within 21 minutes, Sociedad are outperforming even my wildest expectations. The match says more about how poor Benfica are than how strong the Spanish side are but that's okay when they were a long shot to make the round of 16 when the tournament kicked off now they're in the driver's seat. |
| 7 | Barcelona | -4 | One shot on target in an away match against Shakhtar Donetsk in Germany doesn't look great for Barcelona. Losing when they had a chance to make the last 16 with even a draw could be something that comes back to bite Xavi's men if they can't get back to top form sooner than later. They'll probably lock up a spot and bounce back up the rankings, but until they do, they deserve the lower ranking. |
| 8 | Porto | 2 | Porto are just going about their business and are level with Barcelona atop Group H and in a good position to win the group which would exceed expectations coming into the tournament |
| 9 | RB Leipzig | 2 | Curing some of their road struggles, RB Leipzig are through to the last 16 and Xavi Simons is becoming a star right in front of us. |
| 10 | Atletico Madrid | 5 | One of the most confusing teams in the world, Atletico would do well to play every game veurs 10 men with Samuel Lino on the pitch as they did while dispatching Celtic. With a goal and an assist, he is someone growing in importance by the day. |
| 11 | Paris Saint Germain | -3 | Milan and "Dollarumma" got the last laugh as PSG's defense was off balance for the entire match. It's a match that the Parisians can recover from, but things are getting tight in the group of death and PSG needs points now. |
| 12 | Lazio | 4 | There are few players more worthy of a call when a goal is needed than Ciro Immobile. Group E is also tight but Lazio now control their destiny. |
| 13 | Borussia Dortmund | 5 | Doing the double over Newcastle United and climbing to the top of Group F while also creating one of the most memorable moments of UCL to date throwing fake gold bars and money on the pitch in protest. Not bad for a Matchday 4's work. |
| 14 | AC Milan | 6 | The Rafael Leao that we know and love has arrived to power Milan to their first victory in this Champions League campaign. More of this, please. |
| 15 | Napoli | -6 | Napoli made up for not deserving to win in Germany by only drawing in Germany. While they should still advance behind Real Madrid, it's a disappointing route to do it as nothing feels exciting about the reigning Scudetto winners. |
| 16 | Braga | -4 | Being fun can only get you so far when you can't convert from the penalty spot prior to allowing Real Madrid to roll to victory, Braga can still make Europa League but some of the shine is wearing off. |
| 17 | Feyenoord | -4 | Things are still fine, but the loss to Lazio was a critical one for the Dutch side, and now they've now lost their margin of error but can bounce back next matchday. |
| 18 | Copenhagen | 13 | ROOONY rang out over Parken but it was Copenhagen man reaping the spoils with an epic victory over Manchester United. Behind Bayern, this group is anyone's guess now. |
| 19 | Newcastle United | -2 | Down to bare bones, Eddie Howe had to play basically a lineup of all defenders, and, well, it ended just as you would expect not creating much of anything in attack. |
| 20 | Manchester United | -6 | Marcus Rashford's red card may have been controversial, but even with 10 a team like United shouldn't concede four goals to Copenhagen. Poor, poor showing to erode Rasmus Hojlund's two early goals. |
| 21 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 8 | An epic epic victory over Barcelona in Germany means that at worst, Shakhtar will likely be in Europa League, which is amazing given their circumstances. |
| 22 | Galatasaray | -1 | Losing late after a valiant effort in Germany, Galatasary won't care too much as everything is down to hosting Manchester United on Matchday 5. It's showtime for Mauro Icardi. |
| 23 | PSV | -- | Riding a 12th minute goal to victory, PSV showed defensive chops that we haven't seen from them so far this season, and it couldn't have come at a better time. |
| 24 | Lens | -5 | Ending with 10, Lens had a chance to enter the drivers seat against PSV and losing won't go over well. |
| 25 | Union Berlin | -- | The 11 game losing streak may be over but it doesn't bring much to cheer for as Union Berlin weren't able to grab a much needed victory. |
| 26 | Sevilla | -4 | Not sure if Sevilla actually made it to London, only taking one shot across 90 minutes as Arsenal put in a comprehensive performance. |
| 27 | Celtic | -3 | Not able to recover from a red card, Celtic allowed Atletico Madrid to hang six goals on them, which make their hole even deeper to dig out of in the long run. |
| 28 | Benfica | -2 | I'm not sure I've seen a top team nosedive like Benfica before. Poor all around. They're one of only two teams with four losses. |
| 29 | RB Salzburg | -2 | I feel bad for Salzburg, but they'll need another year for the kids to be able to compete in Champions League play. |
| 30 | Crvema zeveda | -2 | Fun moments that don't lead to results don't get you far. |
| 31 | Young Boys | -2 | See above. It would be fun to see Young Boys in the Europa League but that will come down to how the group shakes out. |
| 32 | Royal Antwerp | -- | The group hasn't helped Antwerp but the soccer hasn't been pretty. |
