The Premier League has six clubs in the UEFA Champions League this season, including Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur who began their campaigns on Tuesday evening. Football writer Daniel Edwards reports on how they fared.
Subs seal historic win for Arteta's patient Arsenal
Athletic Club 0-2 Arsenal
Arsenal showcased both their strength in depth and their European experience with a patient victory at Estadio de San Mames, with two late goals from substitutes Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard earning the Gunners a sixth-straight victory against LaLiga opposition.
This was Athletic Club’s first match in the Champions League since the 2014/15 campaign and the San Mames faithful were promised a fast start. They got exactly that, with the first three shots of the game all coming from the home side as Arsenal tried to get to grips with an abrasive atmosphere.
Not a single player from Athletic Club's starting XI had previously played in the Champions League, making them the first Spanish team to name a starting line-up made up entirely of competition debutants since Real Madrid in 1995, and Arsenal’s experience came to the fore as the match progressed, slowly wrestling back control while keeping opposition counter-attacks to a minimum.
Noni Madueke has proven himself to be much more than an understudy for Bukayo Saka in recent weeks for club and country. The winger was a constant thorn in the left side for Athletic Club, driving towards the box incessantly throughout, so much so that the hosts elected to switch out their left-backs with a third of the game to go.
Eberechi Eze on the other hand was far quieter, and Arsenal were perhaps remiss not to make more of an attempt to bring him and Riccardo Calafiori into the game in the attacking third, with the pair looking a smooth duo when afforded the chance to combine. Eze was replaced by Martinelli in the 71st minute and Mikel Arteta’s decision changed the outlook of the game.
It took only 36 seconds for Martinelli do to what Eze could not, and the Brazilian opened the scoring for the Gunners after a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it counter-attack that evoked the Martinelli of seasons past. This was the quickest-ever goal by an Arsenal substitute in the Champions League.
A long kick from Athletic goalkeeper Unai Simon was won in the air by Cristhian Mosquera, flicked on by Declan Rice and then once again by the newly-introduced Trossard, before being brought under control at pace by an on-running Martinelli. After darting towards goal, the Brazilian sent the ball past Simon.
The whole attack started and finished within a matter of seconds, stunning the home crowd into a rare silence.
It took 15 minutes for Martinelli to return the favour for Trossard as the pair of substitutes linked up once more to give Arsenal a two-goal lead and a certain victory.
After receiving a pass from Rice on the left, Martinelli faced up Athletic right-back Andoni Gorosabel before a burst of pace saw him appear suddenly in the penalty area, where he pulled the ball back for Trossard on the edge of the six-yard box.
Trossard’s first touch with his right instep was one of perfection, instantly killing the speed of the pass, and the Belgian showed great composure by seemingly picking his spot in slow motion with his right leg still hanging in the air, striking the ball into the roof of the net a half-second later.
This was the first time that a pair of substitutes had set each other up in a Champions League game for Arsenal, only serving to highlight the strength in depth that Arteta has at his disposal this year.
Arsenal’s Champions League campaign was never going to be won or lost in this contest, but this was a fantastic first step towards qualification for the knockout rounds.
"I’m very happy. It’s an incredible place to come and play football, and the atmosphere is one of the best I've seen," said Arteta, quoted on Arsenal's official website.
"We knew it was going to be very difficult, so we had to earn the right to win the game. Something that we always discuss is that the finishers have to impact the game, and Gabi and Leo came on to make the difference for the team. They were outstanding and the rest of the team [were] as well."
Arteta was born just an hour up the road from Bilbao in San Sebastian and he will be proud to have inflicted a sixth straight defeat to Spanish opposition in the Champions League, with Arsenal becoming the first side to achieve such a feat in the competition. They're also only the third English club to win away to Athletic Club, after Liverpool (European Cup 1983/84) and Manchester United (UEFA Europa League 2024/25).
Arsenal's six consecutive wins v Spanish teams
Season Result Seville (A) 2023/24 W 2-1 Sevilla (H) 2023/24 W 2-0 Girona (A) 2024/25 W 2-1 Real Madrid (H) 2024/25 W 3-0 Real Madrid (A) 2024/25 W 2-1 Athletic Club (A) 2025/26 W 2-0
Own goal gives Frank a winning Champions League debut
Spurs 1-0 Villarreal
A gift-wrapped clanger from opposition goalkeeper Luiz Junior proved the only difference as Spurs overcame a bothersome Villarreal side in a stop-start affair at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
This season has the feel of a new era for Spurs, with the departures of manager Ange Postecoglou and executive chairman Daniel Levy, and a return to the Champions League spotlight.
All of this contributed to an anxious but hopeful energy emanating from the home crowd before kick-off.
But despite being gifted the start of dreams thanks to Luiz Junior's goalkeeping error, Thomas Frank's side never truly got a firm grip of the game, and a poor second-half performance led to a feeling of palpable relief from the Spurs faithful at full-time.
At only three minutes and eight seconds, the opening goal was the earliest that Spurs have scored in the Champions League, and offered a perfect start for Frank in his first match as a manager in the competition.
In what was clearly an orchestrated avenue of attack, Pedro Porro played in Lucas Bergvall down the right-hand side for Spurs, and the midfielder carried the ball 10 metres into the box before looking up to try and find the run of Richarlison.
Bergvall overplayed the cross just a touch and the ball was met by Luiz Junior, only rather than simply bringing the ball into his grasp, the Brazilian managed to swipe it backwards into his own net, and was left only with his head in his hands instead.
The game became a little untidy from here and referee Rade Obrenovic arguably lost control of the affair at the half-hour mark, with a flurry of fouls resulting in two yellow cards apiece in the space of six minutes.
Much to the chagrin of the home crowd, one of the few times that Obrenovic elected not to blow his whistle was when Richarlison claimed for a penalty not long before half-time.
The start of the second half was a different story for Villarreal, the away side seemingly wanting to amend for a calamitous opening to the first 45 minutes, with former Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe a source of danger on the right.
And Villarreal were the instigators throughout the second half, with Spurs failing to regain control of the game despite Frank introducing Joao Palhinha in attempt to shore up the centre of the pitch and put an end to the visitors’ counter-attacking threat.
Spurs were ultimately forced to rely on the quality of their defence, which Frank no doubt deserves great credit for, given the calamitous showings of these same defenders last season under Postecoglou.
In the end, Villarreal failed to force Guglielmo Vicario into making a single save, the Italian adequately shielded by his backline.
Micky van de Ven was the pick of the bunch, with no Spurs player making more recoveries (11), clearances (four) or tackles (three). His extreme pace also helped snuff out multiple counter-attacks, including one late on when he managed to intervene with Georges Mikautadze just before the striker entered the box.
The central defender spoke to broadcaster Amazon Prime after the match, telling reporter Gabriel Clarke: "It was a tough one tonight. We didn't play very well to be honest.
“We had a really good start and of course you want to build on that, but Villarreal are a really difficult team to play against. It is tough, but we got the three points and that is [the] most important [thing]."
While Frank will be pleased to pick up three points in his first outing as a manager in this competition, he made it clear to Amazon Prime after the game that he is aware there is room for improvement.
"I learnt that the team is working very hard and we have very good foundations to stand on in terms of our defensive organisation," said Frank. "I think that is good. We gave very little away.
"I knew it [already] but I think offensively is definitely the area we need to get better. It is also about the relationships. For Djed Spence and Xavi Simons, it was just the second game together. They played too short and into feet too many times."
Spurs, who qualified for the Champions League by winning last season's UEFA Europa League, have now won five consecutive games in major European competition for the first time since a run of six in the 2013/14 Europa League.