UEFA Champions League Matchday 5 storylines, schedule, live stream: How to watch UCL on Paramount+

As Europe's elites return to play in the UEFA Champions League this week, a new layer of seriousness is beginning to creep in as the business end of the league phase begins, the pressure building as the race to secure spots in the knockout stages heats up.

Matchday 5 will once again feature matchups between heavyweights, first up Barcelona's trip to Chelsea on Tuesday. The pair have identical records entering Matchday 5 with just two wins so far, each of them hitting a new bump in the road on Matchday 4 – the Blues tied 2-2 at Qarabag while Barcelona settled for a 3-3 draw at Club Brugge that exposed their defensive frailties. With seven points each, though, both teams are still within touching distance of a top eight spot – Liverpool currently sit eighth with nine points.

Wednesday's action will be headlined by Bayern Munich's trip to Arsenal, a meeting between two of the three teams that enter Matchday 5 with a perfect record so far in Europe. The Gunners' most impressive victory in the Champions League so far was a 4-0 win pummeling of Atletico Madrid on Matchday 3 but Bayern enter Matchday 5 on quite the high – they are just a few short weeks removed from their impressive 2-1 win at Paris Saint-Germain, thrusting themselves into the title conversation for the first time this season.

Here's what you need to know ahead of a busy Champions League week.

How to watch

Paramount+ will have every minute of the Champions League action on Matchday 5, while CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo Network will have supplemental coverage. The broadcast begins with the UEFA Champions League Today pre-match show on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network, while  CBS Sports Golazo Network will also preview the early games on Tuesday, while Paramount+  will have the UEFA Champions League Today pre-match show exclusively on Wednesday. Post-match coverage consists of the UEFA Champions League Today post-match show on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network, while coverage concludes with new editions of The Champions Club and Scoreline.

Matchday 5 TV schedule

All times U.S./Eastern

Storylines for Matchday 5

Can Chelsea or Barcelona rise to the occasion?: It is hard not to pencil in Chelsea or Barcelona's names on a list of teams to keep an eye on at the start of the season but at juncture, the pair are acting more as Champions League hopefuls rather than true title contenders. Their mixed results so far during the league phase have raised serious questions about their abilities to make deep runs in the competition, though the similarities do not end there. The Blues are almost exactly in the middle of the pack in terms of their attacking attributes – they rank 17th for expected goals this season with just 6.36, overperforming with nine goals in four games. Their defensive record almost drags them back down to reality, conceding six goals so far, another statistic that puts them in the middle of the Champions League pack. Barcelona have also overperformed their expected goals tally of 7.38 with 12 goals but their unwavering desire to play a high line with reckless abandon has left them defensively vulnerable. Each team's imperfections means opportunity is ripe for the other to capitalize, and whichever one does just might start to re-enter the title race in the process. There is just as much of a chance that these teams are incapable of seizing their opportunities, which could doom each of them to a berth in the knockout phase playoffs rather than a direct spot in the round of 16.

A clash between two perfect teams: While Chelsea and Barcelona hope to enter the title conversation, Arsenal and Bayern Munich meet on Wednesday in the hopes of shooting to the front of the line. The Gunners entered the season as a team to watch, having already perfected their defense-first strategy and bolstering their squad with depth that has already proven to be a strength of theirs. The surprise of the European season so far, though, is Bayern – the true test of their mettle generally comes in the Champions League and they looked sharp as ever in a Matchday 4 win over Paris Saint-Germain. The bad news for Vincent Kompany's side is that they will be without Luis Diaz on Wednesday, who followed up his brace in Paris with a red card, but they may be able to give Arsenal a taste of their own medicine – they have conceded just three goals so far this season in the Champions League, making them one of the competition's defensive stalwarts so far.

UEFA Super Cup rematch: A few months removed from the UEFA Super Cup, Champions League winners PSG will once again meet Europa League title holders Tottenham Hotspur in a match full of intrigue. PSG may have collected the Super Cup in August but Spurs were easily the more impressive of the two sides that night in Udine, boasting a 2-0 lead until the 85th minute and eventually losing on penalties. Whether or not there will be a repeat performance in Paris on Wednesday is a big question – Spurs have been in up-and-down form since, which may favor a PSG team eager to rebound in the Champions League after a dramatic loss to Bayern. The hosts, though, will be without African Footballer of the Year Achraf Hakimi, while Desire Doue and Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele could also miss out. Which version of these teams turn up at the Parc des Princes is just as uncertain as the outcome on Wednesday.