Athletic Club vs Arsenal preview as Arsenal start their Champions League campaign in Bilbao.
Arsenal fans are desperate to win the Champions League, having never lifted the famous trophy before.
Arsenal qualify for the Champions League having finished second in the Premier League last season. They also had their best European campaign since 2006. In 2006, Wenger’s side were defeated in the final by Barcelona, but last season they reached the semi-finals, where they lost out to eventual winners PSG, having beaten them already in the group phase.
The biggest moment of the campaign came in the quarter-final wins over Real Madrid, both home and away. Those Declan Rice free kicks were the best moments of many Arsenal fans’ experiences in the Emirates era.
Athletic Club qualified for the Champions League, having finished fourth in La Liga last season. They finished on 70 points, 18 behind winners Barcelona and 14 behind Real Madrid.
Last season, they also reached a European semi-final but lost to Manchester United 7-1 on aggregate in the Europa League. This was their best European campaign since they lost to Athletico Madrid in the 2012 Europa League final.
Arsenal’s current squad is quite heavily linked with Athletic’s rivals Real Sociedad. Mikel Arteta played for Real Sociedad for the 2004-05 season. Arsenal’s entire midfield against Nottingham Forest of Mikel Merino, Martin Zubumendi and Martin Odegaard, all played for Real Sociedad before joining Arsenal.
European Record:
Athletic Club have played English opponents 20 times in European competition and have won six and drawn four. Their most recent success against English opposition came in that 2012 Europa League run, where they beat Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in both legs in his final ever European campaign.
Athletic Club and Arsenal have never met in competitive matches, but Arsenal did beat the Basque club 3-0 in a preseason game this season.
Arsenal have only won 17 of their 39 European fixtures against Spanish opposition, which included five wins from their last five games over the last two Champions League campaigns. However, have lost three European finals against Spanish teams, including that 2006 Champions League Final.
Ernesto Valverde has faced Arsenal twice in his managerial career. These matches came in the 2011/12 Champions League when Arsenal faced Olympiacos in the Group Stage. Both teams won their home matches.
Recent Form:
After four games, both teams have started the season with the same record, collecting three wins and one defeat.
Arsenal’s defeat came at reigning Premier League Champions Liverpool just before the international break. Arsenal approached the game looking for defensive stability at Anfield, and it took an incredible Dominik Szoboszlai free kick to break the deadlock.
Arsenal comprehensively beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 in the early kick-off this weekend. Martin Zubumendi scored the first and third goals, both coming from the break-up of set pieces, but in very different ways. The opener saw him strike a wonderful volley from the edge of the box, while the third was a well-directed header from a Leandro Trossard cross back in. The second goal came moments after half-time when brilliant work from Ricardo Calafiori found Eberechi Eze in acres of space, and he could square it to the back post for Viktor Gyokeres to tap home unopposed at the back post. This was Eberechi Eze’s first goal involvement for Arsenal.
Athletic Club lost their first game of the season in their most recent match against Deportivo Alaves when they conceded a second-half own goal. Just before the international break, they had beaten Real Betis to bring them to three victories out of three.
