One match is already off the menu for Arsenal in this season's Champions League.
Arsenal will discover their Champions League opponents on Thursday
Arsenal will discover their Champions League opponents on Thursday (Image: Javier Garcia/Shutterstock)
Arsenal will shortly discover their opponents for the league phase of the Champions League as they look to improve on last season's final heartbreak, but they already know one fixture they cannot be handed. Mikel Arteta and his squad are aware they will encounter two opponents from each seeding pot. Last season, the top-seeded adversaries from pot one were Bayern Munich at home and Inter Milan away.
The Gunners also met Inter at the San Siro in 2025/26. As outlined by UEFA when it launched the new league phase format before the 2024/25 season, the identical match-up cannot occur at this stage of the tournament in three consecutive years.
"If any teams that already played against each other in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in the 2024/25 season are again drawn against each other, with the same home team, in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in this 2025/26 season, those teams will not be able to be drawn against each other with the same home team in the 2026/27 season (although, for the sake of clarity, those teams could still be drawn against each other at the venue of the other team)"," UEFA explained.
This doesn't mean Arsenal and Inter cannot meet at all in this season's tournament. A league phase encounter at the Emirates Stadium remains possible, while there is nothing preventing the sides from meeting over two legs in the knockout stages.
Inter defeated Arsenal in their November 2024 encounter, when a Hakan Calhanoglu penalty handed Arteta's side their sole defeat of that season's league phase.
The Gunners got their revenge last season, though, with Gabriel Jesus scoring twice in a 3-1 victory for the Premier League outfit in January.
That fixture is not the only one prohibited under these regulations. Liverpool defeated Real Madrid at home in each of the past two campaigns, meaning another Anfield clash between the sides is ruled out this term.
Arsenal won't be able to face Inter Milan at the San Siro
Arsenal won't be able to face Inter Milan at the San Siro (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Arsenal claimed victory in all eight matches during last season's league phase to finish top of the table and bypass an additional play-off round.
They subsequently secured knockout wins over Bayer Leverkusen, Sporting CP and Atletico Madrid before being eliminated on penalties by Paris Saint-Germain in the final.
The north London outfit are one of five Premier League clubs competing in this season's Champions League.
They are accompanied by Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool, with the league phase commencing on September 8.
City remain the most recent Premier League side to be crowned European champions, defeating Inter in the 2023 final. Real Madrid claimed the following year's trophy before PSG secured back-to-back titles in 2025 and 2026.