Arsenal Champions League last-16 pathway becomes clear as Mikel Arteta awaits draw

Arsenal’s UEFA Champions League pathway has become a bit clearer now, with all playoff ties now completed

Arsenal now have clarity over their last-16 opponents in the UEFA Champions League upon the completion of the play-off round. Bayer Leverkusen have progressed alongside Atalanta, setting up a tie which the Gunners should be favourites for.

Mikel Arteta’s side went through the last-16 with a perfect eight wins from eight, including impressive victories over Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan in the San Siro.

Leverkusen managed to get the job done in Greece, winning 2-0 before holding Olympiacos to a goalless draw in their own backyard despite a few scares. The German team have not made it past the last-16 since they reached the final in 2002 and were beaten by Real Madrid.

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Atalanta, meanwhile, overcame all the odds after their 2-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in Germany to come back in Bergamo with a dramatic second-leg. The Italian side went 3-0 up on the night before their opponents got a goal back to level it at 3-3 on aggregate.

But a penalty given by VAR in stoppage time allowed Lazar Samardzic to score with the last kick of the game and send his side through. The Gunners faced the Italian side as recently as last season, when David Raya saved a Mateo Retegui spot kick to secure a solid goalless draw away from home.

Arsenal will be overwhelming favourites no matter who they face and will, for the third successive season, be expected to progress to the quarterfinals of the competition. Last season, they beat Real Madrid in the last eight but were knocked out by PSG in the semi-final.

Many believe this could be not only the year the Gunners end their 22-year wait for the Premier League title, but also win multiple competitions and are current favourites with the bookmakers to win the elite European competition. A feat they have never achieved before.

Arteta has always been very grounded in his hopes of winning the competition. He has often highlighted how many times a team or player have tried to win it during a project or career.

“The big clubs [who have won it], they try seven, eight, nine times and they maybe win two,” he said last September. “So in this competition it’s going to be one that you fail much more than you succeed. That’s the nature of it. That’s the history of our club and that’s what we want to change.”

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