UEFA Champions League: Arsenal bidding for European glory 18 years on from Paris heartbreak

“Sol Campbell! Arsenal have stolen a lead in Paris!”

For 40 wonderful minutes, Arsenal led in a UEFA Champions League final, but having seen their goalkeeper Jens Lehmann sent off early on, it was a lead they were precariously clinging on to, with Barcelona carefully prying the Gunners from the cliff edge, finger by finger.

In the blink of an eye, Samuel Eto’o and Juliano Belletti scored from the tightest of angles to break Arsenal hearts.

Underdogs going into the game, their task was made that much harder after 18 minutes when Jens Lehmann was sent off. The Campbell header after 37 minutes allowed them to dream, but playing for so long with 10 men, against a team of Barcelona’s calibre, proved too much.

It’s not correct to say that was the beginning of the end of Arsenal and Arsene Wenger’s golden era; that came on 24th October 2004 when their 49-game unbeaten run came to an unceremonious end, controversially losing to Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Wenger felt that after years of being in United and Sir Alex Ferguson’s shadow, their time had now come; just 10 games into the season they were already eight points clear of their old rivals. But Arsenal, who for all their fancy football never lacked a combative edge to them, were kicked from pillar to post at Old Trafford, going on to lose 2-0. Including the loss to United, Arsenal would win just one of their next six games as the season unravelled.

Despite a strong end to the season, Arsenal finished a distant 12 points behind champions Chelsea, and the Invincibles were now very much vincible. Captain Patrick Vieira would depart in the summer and only some dodgy lasagne on the final day of the following campaign would allow Arsenal to sneak back into the top four, having been on the outside looking in since November.

Nevertheless, despite the clear decline in North London – ahead of their move away from Highbury – they had a chance to win the biggest trophy of them all; a curtain call to signal the end of an era and the start of a new one.

It proved to be too much, however, and Arsenal would start life in their new home without Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, Lauren or Jose Antonio Reyes, with Thierry Henry leaving a year later.

End of an era

The financial restraints of moving to a new stadium meant Arsenal couldn’t compete with new-money Chelsea or Manchester United.

Manchester City and their new owners would create a fresh headache in the not-too-distant future. The old ‘big four’ of Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea – virtually guaranteed UEFA Champions League places each season – had a new member, and while Arsenal couldn’t compete for the big trophies any more, they needed the financial rewards of the UEFA Champions League which, to his credit, Wenger consistently provided.

Titles, however, were out of reach. Between 2007 and 2009, Arsenal were good – albeit not quite great – and would finish 21 points, four points and 18 points behind champions Manchester United. Even the 2007/08 campaign in which the Gunners found themselves somehow challenging for the title proved too big a leap.

There were appearances in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final and semi-final, but even they were about to leave the Gunners. From 2011 and 2017, Arsenal were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the last-16 stage in seven straight seasons, in almost increasingly farcical fashion.

First there was the oh-so-close 4-3 aggregate defeat to Barcelona – the 2-1 win at home the scene of Jack Wilshere’s finest hour. Then there was the back-to-back eliminations via Bayern Munich, followed by the away goals defeat to Wenger’s old club Monaco, and finally the ridiculous 10-2 at the hands of Bayern, who would knock Arsenal out for a third time in five years.

But towards the end of the 2000s, there was a growing narrative that Arsenal could be physically bullied. The old midfield of Overmars-Petit-Vieira-Parlour now read Hleb-Flamini-Fabregas-Walcott; technically gifted, but lacking that same steel, and it was suggested that narrative played a part in Eduardo’s sickening leg break in 2008.

So close, yet so far...

With 12 games of the season to play Arsenal topped the table and were now favourites, heading to St Andrews to take on Birmingham City when just minutes into the game, the Brazilian suffered a career-altering injury that left his team-mates visibly distressed.

Arsenal would concede a late penalty to draw 2-2, and skipper William Gallas was memorably pictured in the centre circle, immovable. The Gunners would win one of their next seven league games, losing to rivals United and Chelsea, eventually finishing third.

Player exodus

By the summer of 2009, Manchester City had arrived on the scene. With bottomless money, but no real reputation, City weren’t yet able to draw the game’s megastars, but were able to pick off some of the best players from mid-table Premier League sides: Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn and Joleon Lescott from Everton. They’d also snatch Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure from Arsenal. Two years later, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri would head north. Arsenal could fight against it all they wanted, but City’s overtaking was inevitable.

By 2012, Arsenal’s trophy-less streak had been extended to seven years, making just two League Cup finals in that time, flitting between third and fourth in the league.

But having lost a number of star players over the years, the biggest gut punch was still to come. In the summer of 2012, fresh off the agony of losing the title in the last minute to Manchester City, Manchester United came knocking. Not so much knocking as barging the door down, leaving a bag of money on the table and leaving with star striker Robin van Persie.

Van Persie of course had been at the club for eight years, and for six-and-a-half of those years, had shown talent and potential but had constantly been plagued by injuries. But starting on New Year ’s Day in 2011, Van Persie exploded into the league’s best player. In 18 months, he’d scored 48 Premier League goals before moving to Manchester.

Arsenal weren’t just being bullied on the pitch, they were being bullied off it. Teams with more financial might, be it Manchester United, Manchester City or Barcelona, asset-stripping the squad, ensuring they wouldn’t be in a position to compete for major honours.

There’s no universally accepted start date of Arsenal’s so-called ‘banter era’, a period where the big trophies eluded them and their best players were picked off, but the loss of Van Persie was certainly a major part of it.

In the following years, Arsenal would sign a number of star players, but could never build a title-winning team. Mesut Ozil arrived in 2013, and while he was a gloriously talented footballer, he was perhaps similar to Paul Pogba at Manchester United: the right player at the wrong time; the final piece of the puzzle, not the cornerstone with which to build from. Alexis Sanchez, another player who had a claim to be the Premier League’s best for a spell also arrived. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a lethal hitman whose goals were never quite enough to return to the UEFA Champions League would come later.

Before the arrival of Aubameyang, however, was the 2015/16 campaign…

Another near miss

Champions Chelsea were in total free-fall and Manchester City were miles off the pace. While Arsenal went favourites over Christmas with a 2-1 win over City, it was Leicester who’d moved into pole position when the two sides met in February.

In the final minute of stoppage time with the score 1-1, Arsenal were given a free-kick. A brief silence fell over North London as Ozil’s free-kick was floated in, before being glanced home by Danny Welbeck. It was the middle of February, but as the pandemonium in the stands implied, it felt like a title-winning goal.

Naturally, Arsenal would lose their next two games and finish 10 points behind champions Leicester.

Just two years later, Arsenal had reached their lowest ebb of the Wenger era. The legendary manager had already announced he would leave at the end of the campaign, following years of toxicity and calls from fans for him to go. Arsenal had finished sixth, suffering 13 losses – the most since 1995. Manchester City, who not a decade earlier had begun raiding Arsenal, were now established as the league’s dominant force under Pep Guardiola, and it was hard to see the Gunners ever competing at that level.

The post-Wenger era

Unai Emery was tasked with taking the reins from Wenger and, like Ozil, he was probably the right man at the wrong time. Emery wouldn’t last 18 months with a lack of instant progress too frustrating for fans.

It was a season in which Arsenal would finish eighth, winning just two of 17 Premier League games between October and February.

It was also the season Mikel Arteta returned to North London.

The former Arsenal midfielder was now in the dugout, and would mastermind an FA Cup semi-final win over former boss Guardiola, then beating Chelsea in the final.

It’s easy to forget now considering the progress Arteta has made with Arsenal, but there were plenty of calls for him to go in his first full campaign. After 14 games, Arsenal had won just four games, lost eight and were 15th in the table.

The Gunners would again finish eighth and pressure was mounting on Arteta. There were more positive signs in the 2021/22 campaign, but returning to the top four was the goal, and with three games to go in the season, Arsenal would lose 3-0 to Tottenham, following that up with a 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park, allowing their rivals to claim the final UEFA Champions League place.

It’s easy to blame late-season slip-ups on mental fragility, but for Arsenal that season it’s hard to look elsewhere.

There were, at least - finally - clear signs of development. Arsenal were now looking much more cogent in the transfer market, with Martin Odegaard, Gabriel and Thomas Partey arriving. Bukayo Saka, who’d struggled to carve out his niche, being deployed on the left and the right wing and even at left-back for a while, was blossoming wonderfully, while Gabriel Martinelli, too, was ready to take the next step.

Title challengers again

Despite the progress, few could have envisioned Arsenal’s 2022/23 campaign. William Saliba had arrived after three years out on loan in France and would forge a formidable partnership with Gabriel with all of the pieces seemingly in place.

Their incredible start to the season saw them pick up a total of 50 points from a possible 57 to sit five points ahead of Manchester City with a game in hand, and although there were stumbles, it wasn’t until the injury of Saliba that the wheels came off.

The Arsenal side that had conceded 25 goals in 27 games conceded 18 in their final 11, including 11 in four games to Liverpool, West Ham, Southampton and City, failing to win any of them.

The fact Arsenal had finished in the UEFA Champions League places for the first time in seven years was scant consolation; for the first time in what felt like a generation, the Gunners had their sights on the title.

If there was a weakness in Arsenal’s side it was in the heart of midfield, but that was addressed by the big-money signing of Declan Rice. Kai Havertz also joined to provide more firepower and depth in midfield, with David Raya a step up from Aaron Ramsdale in goal.

The Gunners return to Europe’s elite was a modest success, reaching the quarter-finals. It was only ever going to be Bayern Munich who knocked them out and so it proved. They would fall short again in the title race, albeit picking up five more points than the previous season.

But it was another season and another step in the right direction.

European challengers?

In Wenger’s less successful years, Arsenal had completely forgotten how to win ugly, but it’s a trait that has returned to North London and could serve them well in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League.

It’s been such a rapid rise for Arsenal considering they’ve spent nearly 20 years in the footballing wilderness, that the idea of them winning the UEFA Champions League so suddenly feels fanciful.

But they really could. They’re third favourites in the betting and have proven that they can get results against tournament favourites Manchester City.

Some of Arsenal’s darkest European nights came in Munich, but on 31st May 2025, it could be the scene of their finest hour.

Check out the bet365 betting hub for all the latest UEFA Champions League betting odds.