This will be the first competitive meeting between Athletic Club and Arsenal, and just the third time the Lions have faced an English opponent in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League (eliminated by Manchester United in 1956-57 quarter-final and Liverpool in 1983-84 last 16).

If Arsenal win this game, they will become the first side in European Cup/UEFA Champions League history to win six consecutive matches against Spanish sides. Indeed, they have won all five of their matches against Spanish opposition across the last two campaigns (two v Real Madrid, two v Sevilla and one v Girona).

Athletic Club have only lost two of their previous 10 home games against English sides in major European competition (W5 D3), although one of those did come in the most recent one, losing 3-0 against Manchester United in last season’s UEFA Europa League (semi-final first leg).

This will be Athletic Club’s first outing in the UEFA Champions League since the 2014-15 season, which was also under Ernesto Valverde, in the second of his three spells as club manager. Athletic have won six of their seven European matches played at San Mamés since Valverde returned in 2022 (L1).

Across the last two editions of the UEFA Champions League, only Real Madrid (33) have accumulated more points in the group/league phase than Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal (32 – P14 W10 D2 L2).

Arsenal only lost three of their 14 games in the UEFA Champions League last season (W9 D2), with all three defeats coming against 2024-25 finalists Paris SG (L2) and Internazionale (L1).

Athletic Club boss Ernesto Valverde has only lost nine of his 42 games as a manager in the UEFA Champions League (W23 D10). Among Spanish managers with 10+ matches in the competition, only Pep Guardiola has a lower loss rate (17.1%) than Valverde (21.4%).

Arsenal have conceded just 18 goals in 24 UEFA Champions League matches under Mikel Arteta. Among teams with 20+ games under a manager, only four sides in the competition have a better goals conceded per game average (0.75): Fabio Capello’s Milan (0.38), Louis van Gaal’s Ajax (0.63), Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona (0.68) and Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona (0.71).

Arsenal’s Viktor Gyökeres was directly involved in seven goals in eight appearances in the UEFA Champions League last season (six goals, one assist for Sporting CP), averaging a goal or assist every 87 minutes played. Only one Arsenal player had a minutes per goal involvement ratio under 100 (Bukayo Saka, 95).   

No non-Spanish player has ever appeared for Athletic Club in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, while two could do so in this game: Ghanaian Iñaki Williams and Moroccan Maroan Sannadi.