Gary Lineker Questions Arsenal's Superstars in Champions League
Gary Lineker believes Arsenal will stride into this season’s Champions League as one of the favourites – but still fall short of the true European elite for one simple reason: star power.
The former England striker, speaking via Mirror Football, praised the Gunners’ rise on the continent but questioned whether they boast the kind of headline names that decide the biggest nights in Europe.
Arsenal’s rise – but no trophy yet
Arsenal’s Champions League story over the last three seasons has been one of steady, deliberate ascent. Each campaign has nudged them closer to the summit, and last season they walked out for the final, only to be beaten by a ruthless PSG side that now treats this competition like its own private property.
The French champions have claimed the trophy in back-to-back seasons and remain the team to beat. Arsenal, though, sit firmly among the clubs tipped to finally break that stranglehold.
There is unfinished business there. Should the draw throw them together again in the knockout rounds, Arsenal will carry more than just tactical plans into that tie. They will carry the sting of that final defeat and a belief that this squad has grown since that night.
Lineker’s concern: where are the superstars?
For Lineker, the question is not whether Arsenal can compete. It is whether they can dominate when the competition reaches its sharpest edge.
“Arsenal will be one of the favourites,” he said, “but I don't think overall they've got quite the superstars that some of the other big guns in Europe have. I do think Barcelona might be quite tasty and take some beating this season now they've got Rodri in there as well in that crucial position.”
It is a pointed assessment. Arsenal, in his view, have the structure, the coaching, the collective quality. What they may lack is that handful of global, era-defining figures who bend Champions League campaigns to their will.
Barcelona and PSG in the way
PSG still loom large over the competition and over Arsenal’s ambitions. If the two clubs collide again, the London side will not be short of motivation, but they will almost certainly be the ones trying to knock the champions off their stride rather than defending their own crown.
Barcelona, though, are the team Lineker flags as a serious threat. With Rodri installed in the heart of their midfield, that “crucial position” as he calls it, they suddenly look like a side built for the long haul of a European campaign, not just the occasional statement performance.
Against that backdrop, Arsenal enter this season with genuine belief that they can go one better than last year. The squad has matured, the scars from the final have hardened, and the bar inside the dressing room has been raised.
Yet Lineker’s warning hangs over their challenge: in a competition so often decided by the brightest stars on the biggest stage, will Arsenal’s collective be enough to outshine Europe’s superclubs when it matters most?
