So are we set for a meeting of two of English football’s finest teams or England’s two overseas stars?
Arsenal and Manchester City go into Champions League battle on Tuesday evening knowing that should they win their respective quarter-finals then they will face off against each other in the last four, but to do that they are going to have to get the better of Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich and Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid respectively.
Will both Premier League sides make it through their tricky-looking ties? We asked the Mirror Football team what they think ahead of the first legs:
John Cross
It is surely written in the stars that we will get an all-English Champions League semi final. Why? Because there has to be an English team guaranteed for the final at Wembley on Saturday, June 1. That’s just how these things work.
I think Manchester City face the harder task with Real Madrid in their quarter final – but do not be fooled into thinking Arsenal have it easy against Bayern Munich.
City have the know-how to beat Real and, when they beat the Spanish giants 4-0 at the Etihad last May, I think it was the single best team performance they have produced under Pep Guardiola.
They hit new heights and showed that they can deliver on the big occasion. Real Madrid are so much better this season – in no small part because of Jude Bellingham – than they were last year. But I still think City have the edge.
Arsenal have a great opportunity to beat Bayern. Their last three meetings have ended up finishing 5-1 to Bayern. But the Germans in disarray at the moment.
But when you have so many quality players, personal pride means they will lift themselves for the occasion. It will be far harder than people think – but I fancy Arsenal to sneak through.
Sam Meade
Logic says we have ourselves an all-English semi-final involving two of the three teams battling it out to claim the Premier League title. Arsenal are a better team – and in a far better place – than Bayern Munich. Real Madrid, despite improvements on last year, are still not at the level of Manchester City.
However, as we’ve seen on numerous occasions, there’s an intangible in European football. When a club feels they belong and Champions League progression is almost a right. Real sum that up more than anyone and Bayern too have the know how that their opponents don’t.
So whilst I’d back an Arsenal-City semi, I’m fully prepared to be proved wrong should Bayern or Real put their best foot forward over the coming weeks. What does look certain though, is that the overall winner comes from this section of the draw.
Mark Jones
This Premier League title race is an exhausting watch, and you can bet that they’ll certainly be wanting to see an all-English Champions League semi-final in Liverpool, where any additional stresses and strains on Arsenal and City will be welcomed. I’m not as convinced as many that it’ll happen though.
The Gunners certainly have the ability to rack up a decent first leg lead against Bayern, but if they only go to Germany with a one goal advantage then things could turn sour for them in that atmosphere. For City the tie is the opposite way around, and if they are as open as they were at Palace at the weekend in Madrid then the hosts will punish them.
It might go against the grain but I think only one of the two goes through, and I’d make Arsenal the favourites for that if they start fast at the Emirates.
Mike Walters
Arsenal are bang in form and Manchester City are not far behind them – so on paper, they have a great chance of meeting in the Champions League semi-finals. Whether or not it would help either of their title challenges on the home front, only time will tell.
And, frankly, both Premier League meetings between the Gunners and City this season were so dull that I would rather watch paint dry, or the grass grow, than sit through another two instalments of the master and his apprentice cancelling each other out.
Where Mikel Arteta thought the 0-0 draw at the Etihad on Easter Day was thrilling, neutrals agreed overwhelmingly that it was a monument to tedium.
Oh, and one other thing. While it is gratifying for English clubs to enjoy success in Europe, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.
For the European Cup (as old school traditionalists prefer to call it) to retain a frisson of excitement and sense of occasion, let’s see different cultures, different casts, different venues, different stories – not the same old over-hyped stuff we watch every week in the Premier League.
Megan Feringa
After 180 minutes, one Arsenal goal, no Manchester City goals and six combined shots on target, the spectre of an all-English semi-final hardly whets the palette. The likelihood is that’s precisely what’s going to happen.
Harry Kane ’s return to north London with a Bayern Munich badge and unmatched 32-goal haul has all the narrative ingredients for an upset (the former Spurs striker scored 14 goals across 16 league north London derbies) but Arsenal are the best defensive team in Europe at the moment. They stifled City without flinching. David Raya is a goalkeeping Dr Octopus.
If there are potential wobbles anywhere, it’s in another Guardiola vs Ancelotti re-match. City ran riot last year in their treble romp but with Madrid’s Bellingham, Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo, City will have more to deal with this time. But this is City.
Foden is all deft touches and fluttering pace. Grealish is back to being as much of a creative maverick as one can be under Guardiola. De Bruyne is doing De Bruyne things again. April is famously the month of City. See you soon for Pep versus Arteta.
Jenny Brown
The possibility of an all-English semi-final is starting to look a lot more likely than when the draw originally happened. Arsenal just scraped past Porto in the quarter-finals only to bee drawn against familiar foes Bayern Munich, who managed three back-to-back 5-1 victories over the London side.
However, that was seven years ago and both sides are very different prospects. Arsenal are top of the Premier League and scoring for fun while Harry Kane has seen his side blow the first Bundesliga title since he was a loanee at Milwall.
Manchester City face the trickier task of taking on a well rested Real Madrid side. But the two seem to face each other just about every year in Champions League with Pep Guardiola more often than not, coming away with the win. The 4-0 at the Etihad last season, one of the standout games of his time in England. It may not be quite so straight forward this year, but with Kevin De Bruyne hitting form at the right time it looks like an English side will be heading to Wembley for the final.
Scott Trotter
When thinking of Arsenal and Bayern Munich it’s difficult not to fall back on the Gunners struggles against the Bundesliga giants that saw three 5-1 results in a row. By that stage it had almost become normal to see an exit to the Bundesliga giants.
In truth, Mikel Arteta’s side feel the more accomplished one currently but to compete on two fronts at the business end of the season will provide a test Arsenal are yet to surpass. Thomas Tuchel’s team find new ways to lose as each week passes, but the German coach has plenty of Champions League pedigree, and with chances of a Bundesliga title out of sight, any players not committed to a boss leaving at the end of the season will still have ambitions to lift a European trophy. Of course, there is a certain Harry Kane who has an impressive record against Arsenal too.
Man City and Real Madrid probably represent the true quality of Europe’s premier competition in recent seasons. Carlo Ancelotti’s team have proven themselves capable of magical moments and have players determined to stand out in the big moment in Jude Bellingham, Carlos Vinicius and Rodrygo, but City enter any game as favourites.
The ease with which they swept aside Los Blancos last term means you have to predict them to go through, regardless of the pressure they are under domestically.
Felix Keith
After watching Kevin De Bruyne mastermind Manchester City’s win over Crystal Palace and Arsenal efficiently crush Brighton into submission over the weekend, I am convinced of both sides’ Champions League credentials.
Arsenal have the best centre-back pairing in Europe this season and they are on a roll, looking so assured, confident and ruthless. Bayern have lost their last two matches – the most recent of which was against a team called Heidenheim – and are drifting towards the end of the season when Thomas Tuchel will be replaced.
They’ve kept just one clean sheet in their past 12 games and are the complete opposite to Arsenal in central defence, where they’ve played two different partnerships – Eric Dier and Matthijs de Ligt first then Kim Min-Jae and Dayot Upamecano – in the last two games. Yes, they have Harry Kane, but Arsenal will get past them.
City have a tougher task against Real Madrid, who are unbeaten in 13 and eight points clear at the top of La Liga, but the depth of Pep Guardiola’s squad is quite something. Phil Foden was rested at Palace and is on fire at the moment, and while there will be shaky moments and no clean sheet, I think City will have enough to win it.
