The Gunners have never won the biggest prize in club football in their history – the Champions League. Even Arsene Wenger is yet to taste victory in the Champions League but Klopp, so close to winning it last season, believes that the north London club have the quality to better Dortmund’s final appearance last season and win it this time around. Arsenal’s last appearance in the Champions League final was in 2006, when they cruelly lost 2-1 to Barcelona after playing most of the game with 10 men.
Their 1-0 victory courtesy of Aaron Ramsey’s 11th goal this season means that the Gunners remain top of their Champions League group F ahead of Napoli on goal difference. This victory comes on the back of a win against Liverpool.
Arsenal are looking in inspired form this season and they became the first English club to win at Westfalenstadion. In fact, they have won 14 of their last 15 away games, a run stretching back to March when they beat eventual champions Bayern Munich on their own turf.
According to Yahoo! Eurosport, Klopp believes Arsenal are one of the favourites to win Europe’s biggest prize this season. When asked whether Arsenal can win the elusive trophy, he said, “Yes. They are young, healthy and good technicians. They won a clever game tonight and could go to the final and win it – as long as they don’t play against Bayern Munich.”
This result leaves Dortmund in third position, three points adrift of both Arsenal and Napoli. However, their qualification for the knockout stages remains in their own hands, with a home tie against Napoli followed by an away trip to point-less Marseille.
Klopp said, “We had 11 shots before they scored and sometimes it was like they were defending with four legs, but football is a game of results. It is difficult after the game, but you have to look forward. It is a very strong group and the positive news tonight is that two wins and we will qualify.”
Wenger said, “We looked more stable defensively because we have experience in midfield not to lose the ball in stupid positions. Dortmund are especially dangerous when you lose the ball, and to counter that, you need maturity. If you have a very young team tonight you would be overrun and lose that game by a very high score. We look more stable defensively.”