Are Arsenal the favourites to win the Champions League?
Arsenal's 2-1 victory against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Wednesday not only sealed a famous 5-1 aggregate victory over the 15-time winners, but it also sent them to their first Champions League semi-final since 2009.
The Champions League remains the one major trophy that has eluded Arsenal throughout their history, but after knocking out the defending champions and with a semi-final clash against Paris Saint-Germain — who they beat 2-0 in the league stage — Mikel Arteta's side will undoubtedly believe this could be their year.
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On the latest episode of Handbrake Off, James McNicholas, Ian Stone, and Art de Roche discussed whether Arsenal should be considered favourites to win the competition.
A partial transcript of his interview has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on the Handbrake Off feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
James McNicholas: The last few weeks of this season could be so spectacular that we forget about almost everything that came before. Football's a strange game in that respect. We've suffered at times this season. It's felt like everything has gone against us and it's not been our year. But suddenly, there's this path to glory opening up in front of us.
Sometimes it defies analysis. Arsenal sense their moment, sense their opportunity, and it's difficult to disagree. Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals, and what a tie that promises to be. London and Paris, Arsenal, with all the French heritage in the club historically. PSG have been in brilliant form and were superb against Liverpool and Aston Villa. But Arsenal are the vanquishers of Real Madrid, the conquerors of the holders, and perhaps favourites at this point. If you knock out Madrid, it's very hard to dismiss that idea.
Ian Stone: I really love what James said there, Art. The way he talked about it and how important this is for the status of the club, for where we are now. We are the favourites. The bookies have us as favourites although, obviously, that would be in the UK, where more money would be lumped on Arsenal rather than the other teams.
We are missing some players and the suspended Thomas Partey will miss the first leg as well, which was the one annoying moment aside from Bukayo Saka's missed penalty. It showed by the way Declan Rice had a go at him, he was like, 'What are you doing? That's making it harder for us?'. Rice will just have to do more work now, but that's all right. Are we the favourites now, Art?
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Art: Arteta and the players have to be bold and view themselves that way. Otherwise, there's no point being in a semi-final.
From an observer's point of view, they might edge it as favourites. I'd rather face Bayern Munich than Inter from the other semi-final because Arsenal and Inter have had the two best defences in the Champions League this season. That would be very attritional to watch.
Ian: I said I'd prefer to get Real Madrid than Atletico Madrid for the same reason.
Art de Roche: Right, and in the semi-final against PSG, Arsenal have that edge of beating them already this season. They're a different team, but Arsenal will also be a different team heading into the tie.
You can listen to full episodes of Handbrake Off free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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