Almunia
Clich, Silvestre, Vermaelen, Sagna
Denilson, Diaby, Nasris, Rosicky
Walcott, Bendtner
After that were seven consecutive years of going out of the competition in the round of 16, followed by the five years in the Uefa League. There we had one year as runners-up (2018/19), two semi-finals, and two exits in the round of 16.
But here we are back in the big cup once again, although knowing that out there there are some pretty big clubs with huge amounts of money invested in their teams.
To get a feeling of the current opposition we can look at a piece recently in the Radio Times which ran an evaluation of the top teams in Europe at the moment…
Manchester City
Real Madrid
Arsenal
Liverpool
Bayern Munich
Inter Milan
Barcelona
PSG
Napoli
Tottenham Hotspur
Now the inclusion of the noisy neighbours in the top ten tells us that standards have been falling of late. Even the writer of the piece notes that the only thing they have won this century is the league cup in 2008. They go on to refer to the “state-of-the-art stadium” (although actually guys, stadia don’t win you games), and “the steadily assembled squad of talents on the rise, the infectiously ambitious manager” plus a recruitment programme that “has been nothing short of sublime.” (They are fifth at the moment).
So if Tottenham are that good how good are Arsenal? “Arsenal’s growth under the Spanish gaffer,” they tell us “has been nothing short of remarkable, winning almost 60 per cent of his first 200 matches in charge of the club…” commenting particularly that, “This team can go toe-to-toe with any team in world football and will only continue to develop positively.”
And certainly this is a different Europe from when we were last in the Champions League. Inter Milan are top in Italy but at the start of this year were deemed by Essentially Sports website to be “facing a severe financial crisis,” with only “the transfer fees of former players, Marcelo Brozovic and Andre Onana” keeping them financiallyafloat. Their plan was to play in the Super League, without that they don’t seem to have a financial plan.”
Bayern Munich of course don’t have financial problems at all, but they are perennial winners of the German League having won it 11 times in a row. This season they are currently second, eight points behind Leverkusen. Perhaps not a crisis, but a little unusual.
10 months ago the Guardian told us PSG were in crisis, “amid a fallout with the World Cup winner Lionel Messi and extraordinary demonstrations by angry supporters against club chiefs and outside the Brazilian forward Neymar’s house.” But they are 13 points ahead at the top of the French league above the mighty Brest in second place. Although the fans are said to be revolting and it seems certain Mbappe will leave at the end of the season.
As for Napoli, the headline in France 24 this morning is “Napoli are once again trying to start afresh as they face Barcelona in the Champions League after sacking their second manager of a disastrous season.”
And Barcelona? They are third in the Spanish league at the moment and in June were declared bankrupt, surviving only by selling the TV rights to their future games.and according to Goal have put all their players up for sale.
Then there is Manchester City. Still facing 100+ charges of financial mismanagement from the rest of the Premier League, they are third in the Premier League with a game in hand, although they have scored fewer goals than Arsenal and let in more.
So how does Arsenal compare with this bunch of ne’er-do-wells at the top of European football? According to Statista Research Department, reporting earlier this month, “In the 2022/23 season, Arsenal FC generated a total of 533 million euros in revenue, representing an increase of over 20 percent on the previous year. Overall, the club placed 10th worldwide in terms of total revenue.”
So, a fair amount of uncertainty and upheaval among our main rivals in the competition this year. Although of course some of this could go against Arsenal. Liverpool are losing their manager, but he could go out with a bang. Manchester City are being challenged over their finances, but if there is a negative outcome for them, they will of course appeal and that could take another year.
Real Madrid might be a big challenge to Arsenal, although in the longer term they look to have awful financial issues as they have been borrowing money from Legends – Sixth Street and it is hard to know how that is going to be paid back.
So Arsenal to go all the way? Well, that could be a lot to ask, but with clubs around Europe having now run out of cash, the coming years could be rather jolly. This might be a year or two too early for Arsenal in Europe, but this could be the start of the New Era.
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