Gary Lineker on Arsenal's Champions League Hopes
Gary Lineker has nailed his colours to the mast for this season’s Champions League – and he’s not quite ready to believe Arsenal can go all the way.
The former England striker, speaking via Mirror Football, accepts Mikel Arteta’s side are now firmly in the European elite after three seasons of steady progress and a run to last year’s final. Arsenal pushed all the way to the showpiece before falling short against PSG, who retained their crown and underlined their status as the team to beat.
Arsenal are widely seen as one of the few clubs capable of breaking the French champions’ grip on the trophy. The squad is deeper, the football more mature, the scars of that defeat still fresh enough to sting. If the two clubs collide again in the knockout rounds, the narrative writes itself: revenge, redemption, and a chance to knock the serial winners off their perch.
Lineker, though, sees a different obstacle.
“One of the favourites” – but missing superstars
“Arsenal will be one of the favourites,” he said, before drawing a sharp line in the sand. “But I don't think overall they've got quite the superstars that some of the other big guns in Europe have. I do think Barcelona might be quite tasty and take some beating this season now they've got Rodri in there as well in that crucial position.”
That is the crux of his scepticism. Arsenal, in his eyes, have the structure, the coaching and the collective quality to compete with anyone. What they might lack, when the competition reaches its brutal, late-stage moments, is the kind of headline-grabbing, match-flipping individual that so often decides semi-finals and finals.
Lineker’s view doesn’t dismiss Arsenal’s progress; it underlines it. They are no longer outsiders or plucky upstarts. They are part of the conversation. But when he scans Europe’s superclubs, he still sees others with more sheer star wattage.
PSG, Barcelona and a brutal landscape
The path to the trophy looks unforgiving. PSG remain a looming presence, still loaded with talent and armed with the knowledge of how to navigate the latter stages. Any rematch with Arsenal would be played under the shadow of last season’s final, with the Gunners desperate to flip the script and PSG intent on defending their dominance.
Then there is Barcelona, the team Lineker tips as a serious threat. The addition of Rodri in midfield, in that “crucial position” as he puts it, changes the feel of their side. A controller of that calibre can tilt a Champions League campaign, giving a team the rhythm and authority to suffocate opponents when it matters most.
Arsenal, by contrast, are being judged on whether their strength in depth and collective cohesion can compensate for what Lineker perceives as a relative lack of global superstars compared with Europe’s biggest guns.
They will enter this season’s competition with genuine belief and a clear target: one step further than last year. The question, as Lineker poses it, is stark. In an era defined by superclubs and superstar moments, can a brilliantly drilled Arsenal side finally break through without that extra layer of individual stardust – or will that be the detail that stops them touching the trophy?
