There are 36 teams competing in the 2024/2025 UCL but the thread is packed with only discussions about Real Madrid and what could be Mbappe's first UCL title. I know that Real Madrid are the kings of UCL for years now but it's worth noting that on those recent years they won the UCL, they came very close to losing it. The final against Liverpool, the comebacks against City, Chelsea and most recently, defeating City and Dortmund to win it the just concluded season.
My point is, there is still a very big chance that Madrid would not win the 2024/2025 UCL. It's a long shot even though Madrid has the dream team.
People discuss about Real Madrid because they feel as defending champion Real Madrid is very strong especially after the arrival of Mbappe it make this team would be hard to beated because in the front lines Real Madrid has world class players such as Mbappe, Rodrygo, Vinicius or Bellingham which if these players played together then it makes Real Madrid is unstoppable but indeed in term of squad quality Real Madrid so far has dream team even some people called them as the new Galacticos so that's why people are placing them as the first favourite in this competition
According the odds too the bookmakers provide low odds for Real Madrid which mean they are very confident that Real Madrid can repeat their latest achievement and defend their title but indeed we shouldn't be ruled out other teams such as Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and probably Liverpool because these teams potentially can makes Real Madrid slipped especially just like you said Champion League will have new format which mean every strong teams have possibilities to met early and possibly Real Madrid will be failed to became an the champion