The 2026-27 Champions League is under way. There are still 126 matches to play until we know which 24 teams will feature in the knockout phase but that doesn’t mean we haven’t learned anything yet. Here are the key data talking-points from week one.England good, Italy bad?Premier League teams took five of the eight automatic qualification spots in 2025-26. England’s representatives all won this week to take a step toward repeating that feat. Arguably the biggest winners were Liverpool, as they were the only English team to play an opponent drawn from pot one.They were at home, though, so perhaps the away victories for Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester City were more impressive. Regardless of which club can be most pleased, the Premier League’s dominance was absolute. English teams collectively out-shot their opponents 102-44, put 28 more efforts on target and had 24 shots deemed by Opta to be big chances while conceding only five.Chart showing combined expected goal difference by teams from each league in week one of the 2026-27 Champions LeagueThey topped the expected goal difference by country too, a chart that has Italy at the bottom. Como won, Roma drew at Fenerbahce while Napoli and Inter faced Arsenal and Real Madrid respectively. All is far from lost, but Serie A’s numbers were not pretty.Inter dominated Real MadridIt wasn’t all bad for Inter. They were one of two teams who had at least 57 touches in the opposition penalty area this week. It’s an incredibly high tally - one that has only been topped once in the Premier League this season, where the average is 24.6 per team per game. For Paris Saint-Germain to be so strongly camped in the Slovan Bratislava box was hardly a surprise. For Inter to be so busy in the Real Madrid penalty area at the Santiago Bernabéu was more worthy of comment.It would be easy to dismiss this as classic Real; they did not play well in the Champions League but won regardless. And they mustered an enormous nine big chances, missing seven of them, so might have won far more comfortably with sharper finishing. But as Inter had the most shots of any visiting team in league or Europe (in a 90-minute match) for eight years, Real might have lost too.The only player among the back four who was there last season was 21-year-old Dean Huijsen, which may help explain how Inter were able to have so many attempts at goal. José Mourinho called it “mad, and not a madness I like.” He wasn’t wrong.Chart showing teams with 20+ shots at Real Madrid since 2016Few even gamesThere were no draws in the first two nights of action. Ismail Kartal resigned as Fenerbahce head coach on Thursday after his side drew 1-1 with Roma, presumably because he was so shocked that the match had finished level.There were not even many close games on the underlying numbers, with only four of the 18 matches seeing an expected goal margin between the two teams that was below one. Every team that won deserved to, at least according to the xG.With so many games still to play, a relative lack of draws this week may prove insignificant. However, it will affect the points tally required to reach the playoff round if the trend continues. There were 25 draws in the 2025-26 league phase, with the team in 24th (Benfica) finishing on nine points. But there were only 18 the season before when Club Brugge finished with 11 points when taking the final playoff spot. Fewer draws mean more teams earn three points, which lifts the bar for competitiveness. We’re currently on track for 16 draws, so keep an eye on how many matches end all-square when match week two rolls around.No surprisesDespite 16 of the 18 matches being won, there were no shocks. For the bloated league phase to generate serious excitement, it needs major upsets. Only two wins were secured by the underdog according to bookmakers, and one of those was Europa League champions Aston Villa beating Club Brugge. Hardly an upset when you compare their finances.The surprise of the week based on pre-match prediction was Real Betis winning 3-2 at Lille. They are 49th and 52nd respectively in Opta’s Power Rankings, so the La Liga side did not overcome an insurmountable challenge. The early weeks of last season saw Qarabag win at Benfica and Galatasaray beat Liverpool. We need more of those types of results.