With the League Phase of the Champions League concluding on Wednesday, we now know a little bit more about what’s coming next for Arsenal.
Arsenal won their eighth consecutive game on Wednesday to complete a perfect League Phase campaign, finishing top of the standings to skip the play-off round in February and move directly into the round-of-16 in March.
Due to the format of the competition, Arsenal can only be drawn against four possible teams in the round-of-16:
- 15th-placed Atalanta
- 16th-placed Bayer Leverkusen
- 17th-placed Borussia Dortmund
- 18th-placed Olympiacos
Atalanta will play against either Dortmund or Olympiacos in the play-off round, with Leverkusen facing the other team. The draw to determine the two pairings will be held on Friday, January 30th at 11:00 GMT.
The play-off matches will then be held on February 17-18th and 24-25th, before Arsenal will be drawn against one of the two winners on Friday, February 27th.
The quarter-final and semi-final draws will also take place on the same day, so Arsenal will know their entire potential route to the final by the end of February.
One thing we already know is that Arsenal won’t be able to face Bayern Munich until the final of the competition. As the two teams finished 1st and 2nd, they’ll be placed on opposite sides of the draw.
Another bonus of Arsenal’s League Phase finish is that the Gunners will be the home team in the second leg of every tie until the final.
After last year’s elimination away in Paris, it should be encouraging that this time around Arsenal will always get the chance to put a bad result right at the Emirates Stadium.
One other thing to watch out for in the round-of-16 draw on February 27th is whether Manchester City or Sporting CP are selected for Arsenal’s side of the draw.
If it’s City, that could set up a tasty quarter-final, with the second leg to take place in the same week Arsenal travel to City in the Premier League. If it’s Sporting, Arsenal will avoid City until the final.