{"id":513,"date":"2026-03-18T16:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=513"},"modified":"2026-03-18T16:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:44:07","slug":"arsenal-fc-route-to-champions-league-final-after-beating-bayer-leverkusen-in-last-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=513","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal FC route to Champions League final after beating Bayer Leverkusen in last-16"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Under the new format, the Gunners\u2019 potential route to this season\u2019s Champions League final has already been mapped out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Arsenal will face Sporting CP in the quarter-final, meaning a return to familiar surroundings for Viktor Gyokeres after his former club staged a sensational comeback against Bodo\/Glimt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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As a result of finishing top in the league phase, Arsenal will have the advantage of playing the second leg of their quarter-final tie at the Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A homecoming awaits Viktor Gyokeres in the Champions League quarter-finals<\/p>\n

Arsenal FC via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In fact, the Gunners will have home advantage throughout the knockout phase thanks to a new rule implemented by UEFA at the start of the campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Things then become very tricky in a potential semi-final Arsenal could come up against Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in what would be a major test of their European credentials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool are among those on the other side of the draw, with Bayern, arguably, currently the strongest of those sides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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That could leave Arsenal taking on the six-time winners – with the likes of Harry Kane, Luis Diaz and Michael Olise in their ranks – in the 2026 Champions League final.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Arsenal\u2019s potential path to Champions League final:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Quarter-finals:<\/strong> Sporting CP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under the new format, the Gunners\u2019 potential route to this season\u2019s Champions League final has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}