Gary Lineker names team that will stop Arsenal winning the Champions League | Football

Gary Lineker insists Arsenal are ‘one of the favourites’ to win the Champions League but could be denied by Barcelona following the signing of Manchester City legend Rodri.

Premier League champions Arsenal kick-started their Champions League campaign with a 1-0 win over Serie A side Napoli on Wednesday.

The Gunners enjoyed a memorable run to the final last season before suffering a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat to back-to-back winners PSG.

Lineker believes Arsenal are once again one of the leading contenders to become European champions after a productive summer and strong start to the new season.

Mikel Arteta bolstered his title-winning squad with the signings of Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, England defender Ezri Konsa and Greece winger Christos Tzolis during the summer transfer window.

Arsenal already look like favourites to retain their Premier League crown, with Manchester City the only other team to still boast a perfect record after three games.

While Lineker expects Arsenal to go back-to-back in the Premier League, he believes they could be a ‘superstar’ short in the Champions League, where he expects Barcelona to thrive.

Hansi Flick’s Spanish champions were minutes away from the Champions League final two years ago before reaching the quarter-finals last season.

Barca, who are already three points clear of La Liga rivals Real Madrid, welcomed Ballon d’Or Rodri to the Nou Camp in the summer in a £65m deal from Man City.

‘Arsenal will be one of the favourites but I don’t think overall they’ve got quite the superstars that some of the other big guns in Europe have,’ Lineker said on The Rest is Football podcast.

‘I do think Barcelona might be quite tasty and take some beating this season now they’ve got Rodri in there as well in that crucial position.’

Ex-Man City defender Micah Richards has also questioned whether Arsenal have the attacking flair to go one better in the Champions League.

Arteta tried to sign Vinicius Junior and Julian Alvarez in the summer but the Brazil icon stayed at Real Madrid while the Argentine striker failed to force his way out of Atletico Madrid.

‘I’ve got no doubts about them in the Premier League but I’m not sure about Arsenal in the Champions League,’ Richards added.

‘If you go back to last season they were actually favourites early doors because of how good they are defensively.

‘I think for them to be real force in Europe, Julian Alvarez would have been perfect.

‘There’s obviously been reports he only wanted Barcelona but if you look at the way he plays for Argentina, there’s times where if Arsenal had more pace on the counter they could be an even bigger thread.

‘If you look across Europe, teams like Barcelona and PSG have probably more pace than Arsenal going forward.

‘I just feel at times that for Arsenal to take their game to the next level, they would be almost complete if they had that superstar striker. Julian Alvarez would have been perfect for that position.’

Martin Odegaard continued his superb start to the new season with the winner as Arsenal beat Italian giants Napoli in their Champions League opener.

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