Who will win Champions League this season? 'Favourites' Arsenal predicted to suffer more final heartbreak | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners may be hotly tipped, but a resurgent European powerhouse is being favoured

The Champions League is back as Europe’s best face off in a bid to be crowned champions of the continent.

Paris Saint-Germain are back again, looking to win the competition for the third year in a row, but last season’s beaten finalists, Arsenal, have been tipped as the favourites, by Opta’s supercomputer, ahead of a ball being kicked.

Having finally ended their decades-long Premier League trophy drought, the Gunners now have the Champions League monkey to rid from their back having never won the club game’s most prestigious prize while seeing many of their domestic rivals at least once lift the famous trophy.

But there is resurgent power else on the continent, namely Barcelona and Bayern Munich, while Jose Mourinho’s return to record-winners Real Madrid may be storyline too tempting to write.

We asked our reporters to name their Champions League winner, and who will be felled in the final...

Paris Saint-Germain are back-to-back winners

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Who will win the Champions League this season?

Matt Verri, football reporter

Will Paris Saint-Germain do the three-peat? Will Arsenal go one better than last season? No and no.

Luis Enrique's side will finally relinquish their European crown, while Arsenal will make it to the final again but suffer more heartbreak. It will be a familiar story, with the Gunners' defensive machine providing the platform through the knockout stages before that extra spark in attack is missing in the final when it is needed most.

Instead, Barcelona will win the Champions League for the first time in more than a decade. They could perhaps still do with an out-and-out number nine, but Raphinha, Lamine Yamal and Anthony Gordon more than make up for that. Rodri bolsters the midfield in a side stacked with World Cup winners who are ready to keep lifting silverware at club level too.

It will be particularly sweet for Barcelona to lift the trophy at the Estadio Metropolitano, after their summer saga with Atletico Madrid over Julian Alvarez.

Barcelona have been hotly tipped

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Dom Smith, football reporter

I see four teams being the true contenders to win, and Real Madrid and Manchester City are not among them.

Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Arsenal are the strongest teams, and yet I can’t quite see Bayern doing it. They tend to be quite frail when it gets to the business end of the Champions League. PSG will go deep but won’t quite get their three-in-a-row.

Arsenal, on paper, are the strongest team, and yet I find it hard to look past Barcelona as this season's European champions. A perfect blend of midfield control in possession and devastating attackers on the breakaway.

I am predicting Arsenal to be beaten finalists once more, as Anthony Gordon becomes a Champions League winner and the Catalans lift the trophy for the first time since 2014-15.

Arsenal may suffer more final heartbreak

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Sam Tabuteau, football reporter

Every year the Champions League feels like quite an open field. But this year, more than any other, there are a number of really good teams in with a chance of winning the competition.

For me, though, the two clear favourites are Barcelona and Arsenal.

Barcelona under Hansi Flick are a winning machine, full of goals and guile, and have reinforced their squad with World Cup winner Rodri and England winger Anthony Gordon, who has taken to life at Barca seamlessly.

Arsenal, meanwhile, are still reeling from their penalty shootout defeat to PSG in last year’s Champions League final. They too have strengthened their squad, adding ready made talent in Ezri Konsa, Bruno Guimaraes and Christos Tzolis.T

The Gunners came into the final last year on their haunches after a physically and emotionally draining domestic campaign. This year should be different as they have the depth to react to the demands of the fixture schedule.

I expect another tightly contested final, but I think Barcelona will just get over the line to win their first Champions League in 12 years, while Arsenal endure yet more heartbreak on the biggest stage.

Harry Kane will lead Bayern Munich’s charge

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Arthur Ferridge, sports reporter

The new Champions League season might well have come down to a question of whether anyone is good enough to beat Paris Saint-Germain, but after their stuttering start to the campaign, it seems it will be anyone's game.

Mikel Arteta's Arsenal will be licking their lips after falling agonisingly short last season, and will back themselves to go far once again.

But there is renewed competition from the continent's heavyweights. Anthony Gordon's Barcelona seem to be in their best form for some time - they are nailed-on finalists.

It is a sleeping giant, though, who I see going all the way. There seems a sense of destiny around Bayern Munich, the perennial powerhouse who have not won this competition since 2020.

Harry Kane is in the form of his life, while Michael Olise and Lennart Karl are two of Europe's most exciting forwards. Questions can rightly be asked of the fading Manuel Neuer, but is that enough to keep them from winning the lot? I say no.