Athletic Club vs Arsenal

Arsenal have become the first ever team to win six consecutive European Cup/UEFA Champions League meetings with Spanish opponents.

Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring for Arsenal just 36 seconds after coming off the bench, the Gunners’ fastest ever substitute goal in the UEFA Champions League.

Athletic Club have lost consecutive home games in all competitions for the first time since August 2023, and for the first time in the same season since May that same year.

This will be the first competitive meeting between Athletic Club and Arsenal, and just the third time the Lions have faced an English opponent in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League (eliminated by Manchester United in 1956-57 quarter-final and Liverpool in 1983-84 last 16).

If Arsenal win this game, they will become the first side in European Cup/UEFA Champions League history to win six consecutive matches against Spanish sides. Indeed, they have won all five of their matches against Spanish opposition across the last two campaigns (two v Real Madrid, two v Sevilla and one v Girona).

Athletic Club have only lost two of their previous 10 home games against English sides in major European competition (W5 D3), although one of those did come in the most recent one, losing 3-0 against Manchester United in last season’s UEFA Europa League (semi-final first leg).

This will be Athletic Club’s first outing in the UEFA Champions League since the 2014-15 season, which was also under Ernesto Valverde, in the second of his three spells as club manager. Athletic have won six of their seven European matches played at San Mamés since Valverde returned in 2022 (L1).

Across the last two editions of the UEFA Champions League, only Real Madrid (33) have accumulated more points in the group/league phase than Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal (32 – P14 W10 D2 L2).