The Champions League draws took center stage yesterday and the new format was revealed, which is downright amazing. It didn’t look new to me though, as I have experienced this format playing Football Manager 2024. The best part of the new Champions League format is that teams that crash out of this Group League Phase will be outrightly eliminated, rather than going to bully folks in the Europa League.
36 teams were paired in four pots, and each Champions League team will play eight games (four home, four away) in a league format. The top eight teams qualify automatically to the Round of 16 as the top seeds while the ninth placed team to the 24th placed team will be involved in a playoff clash, with the winners qualifying for the Round of 16 as second seeds.
Another interesting bit about this new format is that two teams from the same nation can face off each other in the knockout rounds, when this was deliberately avoided in the previous Champions League format.
Enough waffling on the competition format, here’s a quick review of Arsenal’s opponents.
Inter Milan
The Italian champions qualified for the Champions League after a comfortable Serie A win last season, and will be looking to add to their three European crowns with the last one coming as far back as the 2009/10 season, which was won by the legendary Jose Mourinho.
Arsenal’s head to head with Inter Milan is one win and one loss, and that was a very famous win, with Thierry Henry on fire as Arsenal ran out as 5-1 winners at the San Siro.
Paris St. Germain
Having won 10 Ligue Un titles in the last 12 seasons, PSG begin life without their mercurial forward, Kylian Mbappe, and will be hoping to do better than their semifinal finish last season. In the past five seasons, PSG has reached the semifinals three times, which also included a Champions League final spot that ended up in defeat.
Arsenal has paired up with PSG four times, with the Gunners winning one game, and drawing the remaining three.
Shakhtar Donetsk
Shakhtar won the Ukrainian Premier League last season and were given a good run for their money by Dynamo Kyiv, but last season, they finished in third place in their Champions League group, only to suffer a knockout defeat in the hands of Olympique Marseille. It’s interesting to know that Shakhtar will play all their Champions League games in Germany at Schalke Arena.
Arsenal has won two games against Shakhtar and lost two as well.
Atalanta
The Europa League final between Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta was touted as what would have been a crowning moment for Xabi Alonso, after the unprecedented Bundesliga win, as well as the DFB Pokal win, making it a German domestic double, but on the night, Ademola Lookman was on fire, smashing a hat-trick that broke Leverkusen hearts.
That victory earned the club a Champions League berth, and they will be facing Arsenal for the first time in their career. Arsenal will be mindful of how Atalanta smashed Liverpool at Anfield on their road to the finals of the Europa League.
Dinamo Zagreb
The Croatian champions qualified for the Champions League group phase after a playoff win against Qarabag, and they will be touted as one of the whooping boys of the competition. However, Arsenal will be wary of how Zagreb defeated Chelsea a couple of seasons ago, which ultimately cost Thomas Tuchel his job.
However, the Gunners have a decent head to head record against Zagreb, winning three of their last four outings against the Croatian outfit.
Sporting CP
Arsenal will be looking to get some measure of revenge against Sporting CP, after the Portuguese side dashed the Gunners hopes in the knockout round of the Europa League via penalties. Ruben Amorim’s side were very dominant in the Portuguese league last season, finishing 10 points ahead of SL Benfica to earn the crown.
Arsenal has a good record against Sporting CP in the Champions League, with two wins and four draws in six games.
AS Monaco
If Monaco visits the Emirates for the Champions League clash, it will serve as a homecoming for Folarin Balogun who left last season after impressing at Stade de Reims. Monaco did well to finish behind PSG, and Balogun scored a meager eight goals in 32 appearances, which was a far cry from the 22 goals he scored in 39 games for Stade de Reims.
The head to head record is evenly matched with Arsenal and Monaco sharing a win apiece.
Girona
This will be Girona’s debut Champions League campaign after finishing in third place in La Liga last season, following a stellar performance in the league. There were moments when they were actually on top of the division and they held their own against the juggernauts of the competition.
They will be looking forward to the adventure and will spur themselves on to put up great performances for their fans.
Sayonara.
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