Kasper Hjulmand makes Arsenal Champions League prediction after Bayer Leverkusen exit

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·18 March 2026

Kasper Hjulmand makes Arsenal Champions League prediction after Bayer Leverkusen exit

The Gunners have a favourable path to the final, but plenty of European giants remain

Arsenal and Bayern Munich have been tipped by a rival head coach familiar with both clubs as the frontrunners to win this season’s Champions League.

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The Gunners beat Bayern Leverkusen 2-0 on Tuesday to secure a berth in the quarter-finals, where they will meet Sporting CP.

Bayern, meanwhile, hold a 6-1 aggregate advantage over Atalanta, with the second leg of that tie to be contested on Wednesday and the winner progressing to face Real Madrid - who convincingly knocked out Manchester City - in the next round.

The bracket which emerged from this year’s knockout draw means Arsenal have a fairly favourable route to the final, avoiding all of Bayern, Real, holders Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool, should the Reds get past Galatasaray.

It comes after Mikel Arteta’s side went unbeaten through the league phase, scoring the most and conceding the fewest goals to earn their status among the favourites to hoist the trophy in Budapest at the end of May.

Leverkusen boss Kasper Hjulmand, who has faced both Arsenal and Bayern this season, said it is “no coincidence” that the Gunners are in this position and admitted they “could” go all the way.

“Yeah, I think they could,” said the Danish manager, when asked if he thinks Arsenal - who he previously described as “perhaps the best team in Europe” can clinch their first European title in more than three decades.

“You can see in the Premier League as well, their lead, the fewest goals against them, the highest number of goal scored, so it’s not a coincidence.

“And when you structure your game like this, it’s very difficult.”

Vincent Kompany and Mikel Arteta

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Even if they reach the final, though, Hjulmand warned that Arsenal will surely still face stiff competition from whoever their opponent is. That includes Vincent Kompany’s German giants, who the Gunners beat 3-1 in the league phase and with whom his own Leverkusen side drew 1-1 in the Bundesliga last weekend.

“I think Bayern is a very different type of game,” Hjulmand said.

“They do it differently, Bayern, and they’re a very, very high level.”

In terms of his favourites to win it all, the Leverkusen coach added: “I would say it’s head-to-head [between Arsenal and Bayern], but there are also other teams in the competition like Paris and Real Madrid.

“So it’s a tight number of teams and in one game, in two games in football, you never know what happens. It’s about being ready on the night.”