**Arsenal**are consolidating the progression of their project under Mikel Arteta, playing in the **Champions League**for the third year on the bounce after a six-year hiatus from the tournament.
The Gunners endured an injury-riddled campaign last term, but 74 points were still good enough to ease off in the final few months of the schedule and wrap up second spot for the third straight year.
In the meantime, the Gunners were fighting for their first **Champions League**crown. A historic 5-1 rout of Real Madrid, with wins home and away, was the highlight of their run. However, eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain were a level above, winning 3-1 across two legs in the final four.
**Mikel Arteta**and his men go again from September in their pursuit of the continental crown. They have some tricky tests in the calendar, but the expectation will be that the journey does not end here.
Arsenal’s Champions League opponents
For the second year in a row, the Champions League will follow a new format. Each team will compete in a league with all 36 clubs and have been drawn to face four sides home and away apiece.
The top eight will then qualify automatically for a place in the Round of 16 of the knockout stages, while those from 9th until 24th will have to reach this stage through a playoff in the new year.
Bayern Munich(Home)
Inter Milan(Away)
Atletico Madrid(Home)
Club Brugge(Away)
Olympiacos(Home)
Slavia Prague(Away)
Kairat Almaty (Home)
Athletic Club(Away)
UEFA will confirm the kickoff times and the dates for all of the league phase fixtures on Saturday.
The headline fixtures
The league phase will involve a bitter reunion against Bayern Munich. The Bavarians have been responsible for some of the most embarrassing nights on European soil for the Gunners, who have lost to the record German champions 5-1 on three separate occasions between 2015 and 2017.
Upon their return to the competition, **Arsenal**clashed with Die Roten in the quarter-finals in 2024. A sloppy phase at the Emirates Stadium forced the team to fight for a 2-2 draw in the first leg before Joshua Kimmich scored the only goal at the Allianz Arena a week later to dump out Arteta's men.
There is also a trip to the **San Siro**for the second year in a row. Inter Milan, finalists in the last edition, kept clean sheets in seven of eight league phase games, including a 1-0 victory over Arsenal. A disruptive summer has seen Simone Inzaghi move to Al-Hilal, but the Nerazzurri are no fools.
The third big fixture on the schedule will be a battle with Atletico Madrid. Diego Simeone sent the Gunners packing in the semi-final on the way to lifting the Europa League in 2018. He does not have the same watertight defence as before, but the Argentine can still get his group to play pragmatically.
Respecting the rest of the competition
This format guarantees big hitters from the off, but the Gunners still have fixtures they expect to win.
From Pot 4, **Arsenal**will face Kazakh club Kairat, who make their debut in the tournament after knocking out **Celtic**in a playoff qualifier. They will also travel to Spain to play against Athletic Club, whom they beat 3-0 this month to earn the Emirates Cup in their final fixture of preseason.
From Pot 3, **Arsenal**will meet again with Olympiacos. The Greek outfit infamously knocked out Arteta's men at the death in the Round of 32 in the **Europa League**in 2020, and only narrowly exited the Round of 16 in the same competition a year later. But it is time to prove things have changed.
While the Gunners have grown, **Olympiacos**had not qualified for the Champions League since 2020, and Slavia Prague, the other draw from Pot 3, have not reached the competition since 2019.
The final opponent on the list is Club Brugge. Aston Villa humbled the team in the Round of 16 last season, triumphing 6-1 over two legs, but the Belgian club had to stun **Atalanta**in the playoff to get there. Participants in three of the last four editions of the tournament, they are familiar with this stage.
Arteta believed that his squad showed more confidence in Europe at their second attempt at playing in the Champions League. With a deeper squad and much more experience of what it takes to battle the best, the ambition for **Arsenal**will be a place in the top eight and automatic entry to the Round of 16.