Arsenal have announced their UEFA Champions League group stage squad, with their campaign in Europe’s elite competition set to begin on 16th September, away at Croatian side GNK Dinamo Zagreb. The official squad is as follows –
Goalkeepers: 13. David Ospina, 33. Petr Čech, 44. Deyan Iliev, 49. Matt Macey.
Defenders: 2. Mathieu Debuchy, 3. Kieran Gibbs, 4. Per Mertesacker, 5. Gabriel, 6. Laurent Koscielny, 18. Nacho Monreal, 21. Calum Chambers, 24. Hector Bellerin, 51. Tafari Moore, 52. Stefan O’Connor.
Midfielders: 7. Tomáš Rosicky, 8. Mikel Arteta, 10. Jack Wilshere, 11. Mesut Özil,15. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 16. Aaron Ramsey, 19. Santi Cazorla, 20. Mathieu Flamini, 34. Francis Coquelin, 47. Glen Kamara, 54. Jeff Reine-Adélaïde.
Forwards: 12. Olivier Giroud, 14. Theo Walcott, 17. Alexis Sánchez, 23. Danny Welbeck, 28. Joel Campbell, 45. Alex Iwobi, 59. Chris Willock.
The squad consists of 32 players, with seven registered on the ‘player B list’, which includes Hector Bellerin, Tafari Moore, Stefan O’Connor, Deyan Iliev, Alex Iwobi, Glen Kamara, Chris Willock. As it stands, eight academy players made the cut, including 17-year-old Reine-Adélaïde, who in fact, made the A-list, with a large amount surprising missing out, such as Kystian Bielik.
Arsenal will make their record-breaking 18th consecutive season playing in the Champions League this year, more than any another English Club, but are yet to win the competition. They came closest to winning the cup, one of the biggest pieces of silverware in world football, in 2006, in the final against Barcelona in Paris, but losing the game 2-1 in 90 minutes, after being 1-0 up with only 14 minutes to go.
Last season saw the Gunners crash out in the last 16 round against Monaco, with an embarrassing 3-1 defeat at home in the first leg, with no thanks to former Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov who contributed to the French Sides win. The Gunners came close to putting the tie back in their favour with a 2-0 in the away leg, but it wasn’t enough and they went out on away goals.
The north London club are in one of their strongest positions they’ve been in recent years to put up a more convincing fight for the winners medal, but realistically comparing them to Europe’s elite, it’s a huge ask, especially as they were very inactive during the summer’s transfer window, making only one signing.
