Elversberg followed up a stunning Bundesliga debut win over Bayer Leverkusen by coming from 3-1 down to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-3 on Matchday 2. With record champions Bayern Munich next up, the fearless newcomers have every reason to believe they can pull off another major upset.
Former England striker Gary Lineker (Picture: YouTube) 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. Sign up for In The Mixer, Metro's football newsletter Get exclusive analysis and previews of the biggest games every Friday. Sign up now for free. 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. PSG have won the last two Champions Leagues (Picture: Getty) 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. Arsenal suffered a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat (Picture: Getty) ‘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. {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"'It was beautiful': Arteta hails Arsenal's attack-to-defence display in win against Chelsea","contentUrl":"https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2026\/09\/07\/2593273995855020828\/480x270_MP4_2593273995855020828.mp4","description":"Arsenal came from behind to beat Chelsea 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium after Morgan Rogers stunned home fans into silence with a volleyed goal 77 seconds into the game.","duration":"T5M27S","height":270,"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/09\/07\/07\/111091359-0-image-a-53_1788761962819.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-09-07T07:17:08+0100","width":480} To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page window.addEventListener('metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded', function(data) { if (typeof(data.detail) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === 'undefined') { return; } var player = data.detail.carousel.el_; var container = player.closest('.metro-video-player'); var placeholder = container.querySelector('.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder'); if (placeholder) { container.removeChild(placeholder); container.classList.add('metro-video-player--related-videos-loaded'); } }); ‘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 favour
Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski are finally facing each other in the Major League Soccer, prompting questions of what was the outcome of the last clash between the two legends. Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski prepare to cross paths once again, facing off for the first time in Major League Soccer following a storied and at times tense history between the two iconic forwards. As the two legends prepare to share the pitch, fans are looking back at their most recent encounters. The Chicago Fire host Inter Miami on Wednesday, September 9, at Soldier Field. The home side enter the contest on a six-match unbeaten streak in MLS play, sitting fifth in the Supporters’ Shield standings with 38 points through 22 matches, while the Herons hold third place with 43 points through 23 games during a mixed stretch featuring one win, two draws, and two losses over their last five outings. Lewandowski previously featured against Inter Miami following his July 22 arrival in Chicago, as the Herons secured a 3-2 victory in a match Messi missed while resting after Argentina’s 2026 World Cup run. For Wednesday’s fixture, however, both superstars are expected to feature in the starting XI for one of the season’s most anticipated MLS matchups. A heated previous encounter between Messi and Lewandowski Following the cancellation of the 2020 Ballon d’Or, Messi stated during his 2021 acceptance speech that Lewandowski deserved the prior year’s honor, prompting the Polish striker to publicly question Messi’s sincerity. Messi subsequently excluded Lewandowski from his voting ballot for FIFA The Best award, fueling further public friction between the two. Lionel Messi of Argentina battles for possesion with Robert Lewandowski of Poland. (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) That tension spilled onto the pitch during Matchday 3 of the 2022 World Cup group stage, where Messi visibly snubbed an on-field greeting from Lewandowski prior to kickoff. Argentina went on to secure a 2-0 victory over Poland, highlighted by a late incident where Messi dribbled aggressively at Lewandowski before drawing a foul. Speaking to ESPN a year later, Messi admitted he harbored extra motivation during that match. “I was bothered by the statements Lewandowski had made. Because when I won the Ballon d’Or, I truly meant what I said about him. And for him to speak the way he spoke, honestly, it bothered me. I dribbled past him again just because it was him,” he stated on what has been their last encounter until today. A deadlocked all-time series In recent years, the friction between the two icons has cooled, with Lewandowski publicly expressing hope that Messi would return to FC Barcelona during his tenure in Spain. Now competing as rivals in MLS, both stars will look to take the lead in their head-to-head record. Their series began during the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League semifinals, where Messi scored twice and added an assist in Barcelona’s 3-0 first-leg win over Bayern Munich. Lewandowski scored in Bayern’s 3-2 second-leg victory, though Barcelona advanced 5-3 on aggregate. Their final European club meeting came in 2020 during Bayern’s iconic 8-2 quarterfinal victory over Barcelona, where Lewandowski recorded a goal and an assist. Messi subsequently evened their all-time head-to-head record at 2-2-0 with Argentina’s World Cup victory over Poland, setting the stage for Wednesday’s MLS showdown to break the tie.
Bayern Munich kick off their Champions League campaign on Thursday evening when Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt visit the Allianz Arena for the opening match of the league phase. The German giants enter the competition with ambitions of going one step further after reaching last season’s semi-finals, while Bodo/Glimt are determined to prove that their impressive rise […] The post Prediction: Bayern Munich vs Bodo/Glimt appeared first on SoccerNews.
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