Arsenal closing in on all-time Champions League record held by Bayern Munich ahead of trip to Bavaria

It is completely taken for granted how consistently excellent Arsenal are in the Champions League under Mikel Arteta. For years, towards the end of Arsène Wenger's reign, the Gunners would muddle their way through the group stages before exiting in the round of 16, falling at that hurdle in seven successive seasons before the start of the Europa League era.

Since returning to Europe's top table, Arteta's team have got to the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and then last year's final at the Puskás Aréna, hoping that upward trajectory carries them all the way to glory in Madrid in June. Before any of that, Arsenal continue to be flawless in the early part of the competition.

Tuesday night's 3-0 victory over LOSC Lille, in which Jurriën Timber, Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka all scored during a six minute spree, means they have now won all 12 Champions League group stage or league phase home games under Arteta, scoring 36 goals and conceding only three.

Overall, that was the club's 14th consecutive victory at this stage of the competition, dating back to a 1-0 defeat against Internazionale at San Siro in November 2024; Hakan Çalhanoğlu's spot-kick the difference back then.

Arsenal's last 14 Champions League league phase results

The new Champions League format is designed to be more difficult for big teams, considering Pot 1 teams are no longer kept apart. Thus, this makes Arsenal's recent record in the competition even more remarkable. Arteta's team finished third in the inaugural league phase, before coming top with maximum points last time round, and thereby being at home in the second legs of all the knockout rounds was fundemental to their run to Budapest.

Thus, this streak of 14 successive wins is the outright second longest in the competition's history. The record, neatly enough, is currently held by the Gunners' next opponents Bayern Munich.

The Rekordmeister enjoyed back-to-back group stages in which they accumulated maximum points, winning 17 successive Champions League group games overall between 2020 and 2023. During this period, they enjoyed wins over Lokomotiv Moskva, Barcelona four times, Dynamo Kyiv twice, Benfica twice, Inter Milan twice, Viktoria Plzeň twice, Manchester United, København and then Galatasaray twice.

Thee sequence came to an end in surprise fashion, with FC København battling to a goalless draw at the Allianz Arena, with the hosts seeing a 94th minute penalty overturned following VAR review. Well, perhaps present day Bayern are not as ominous as one might expect.

Vincent Kompany's team are currently not top of the Bundesliga, having already drawn with newly-promoted Schalke and Bavarian neighbours Augsburg. Then, on Tuesday night, Bayern failed to beat Champions League debutants Viking on the road. They were actually 2-0 down at half time in Stavanger, battling back to lead, only for Herman Haugen to equalise right at the death.

Most consequentially, Michael Olise was sent off, booked twice in a matter of seconds, first for fouling Zlatko Tripić, before chucking the ball into his face. He will thereby sit out Arsenal's visit next Wednesday, adding to the growing belief that the 3,794 Gooners making the trip to Germany could see a famous win.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow