Overview
Always playing the runner-up role in continental arenas - except for the 1994 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup championship - Arsenal made a strong impression from the beginning with 8 consecutive victories in an impressive group stage campaign.
Under the leadership of Mikel Arteta, the London team successively defeated formidable opponents such as Atletico Madrid, long-time rival Bayern Munich and runner-up Inter Milan in the 2024-2025 season. These results helped Arsenal convincingly take the top spot in the group, while possessing the best attack (23 goals) and defense (only 4 goals conceded) in the group stage of 36 teams.
The knockout draw results also bring a significant advantage to Arsenal, as they avoid heavyweights such as Real Madrid, Liverpool, PSG, Bayern Munich or Manchester City before the final. Therefore, the expectation that 2026 will be the time Arsenal wins the Champions League for the first time is growing.
Still nurturing ambitions towards a historic quadruple, Arsenal continues to face no less criticism for their playing style considered pragmatic, from time-wasting to dependence on fixed arrangements. However, when positive results still came, those controversies seemed not to affect Arteta's team much.
Arsenal traveled to Germany with high form, after 4 consecutive wins in all competitions. In the most recent match, their reserve squad defeated Mansfield Town 2-1 in the FA Cup, and also marked the eighth time in 11 recent away matches that the "Gunners" scored at least 2 goals.
In the opposite direction, Bayer Leverkusen - a team that once caused a shock when experiencing an unbeaten season in the Bundesliga, two decades after Arsene Wenger's "Arsenal unbeaten" period - has shown signs of stagnation since ending Bayern Munich's dominance in the domestic league.
After a difficult period under Erik ten Hag, former Danish national team head coach Kasper Hjulmand has somewhat stabilized the situation, bringing Leverkusen to the Champions League round of 16 for the second consecutive season.
Although only ranked 16th in the group stage, a 2-0 victory at Olympiacos' stadium in the first leg of the play-offs helped Die Werkself gain a great advantage, before completing the task with a 0-0 draw at home to win a ticket to the next round.
However, that draw was also part of Leverkusen's unstable form. This team has only won one of their last 5 matches in all competitions and was just dramatically drawn 3-3 by Freiburg in the Bundesliga.
However, BayArena is still a reliable support. In the past two months, Leverkusen has been unbeaten in 6 home matches, conceding only one goal in 540 minutes of play.
In the past, Leverkusen drew 1-1 with Arsenal in Germany in 2002. However, since then, the "Gunners" have won two 4-1 victories against the Bundesliga representative, exactly 22 years apart - once in the Champions League campaign that year and once in the pre-season friendly series in 2024.
Personnel situation
Arsenal let many key players rest in the match against Mansfield Town last weekend. David Raya, Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Gabriel Magalhaes are all given rest and are expected to return to the starting lineup in the upcoming match.
However, William Saliba (ankle injury), Martin Odegaard (knee) and Ben White (light injury) are still uncertain to play. In addition, Leandro Trossard and Riccardo Calafiori also have to withdraw at the weekend due to fitness issues, making their condition before this match not really clear.
As for Bayer Leverkusen, the home team also faces many difficulties in terms of force before the first leg. Mark Flekken (knee), Loic Bade (hamstrings), Arthur ( ligaments), Lucas Vázquez (calf), Eliesse Ben Seghir (calf), Nathan Tella (foot) and Patrik Schick (muscle) are all in the process of treating injuries.
Expected lineup:
Bayer Leverkusen: Blaswich, Andrich, Quansah, Tapsoba, Poku, Garcia, Fernandez, Grimaldo, Maza, Terrier, Kofane.
Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Rice, Saka, Eze, Martinelli, Gyokeres.
The match between Bayer Leverkusen and Arsenal takes place at 0:45 AM on March 12 (Vietnam time).
