The draw for the League phase of the UEFA Champions League has been made.

Arsenal will host Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Olympiakos and UCL newcomers, Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan.

We will travel to Inter Milan, Athletic Bilbao, Club Brugge and Slavia Prague.

Bayern are of course very familiar foes of ours here in N5, having suffered many painful eliminations at the hands of the Bavarians.

We most recently faced them at the quarter final stage in 2023-24 bowing out 3-2 on aggregate. It was far from the most painful uppercut we’ve endured from Bayern. I think we all know when that was.

As for Atleti we last faced them in the semi-finals of the Europa League losing 2-1 on aggregate in Arsene Wenger’s last European tie.

Missed chances against a ten-man Atleti cost us dearly in the first leg at the Emirates. That late Antoine Griezmann equaliser was one of the most painful goals I've seen us concede. It all happened in slow motion, Koscielny booting the ball at his own face when all he needed to do was boot the ball into touch, Griezmann rounding Daivd Ospina and Shkodran Mustafi falling over on the goal line. Dark days.

Olympiakos are annoyingly familiar opponents. We’ve faced them in the group stages in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015.

Even in the Europa League we couldn’t avoid them facing them as they famously knocked us out in 2020. Even darker days. We did knock them out the following year though. This will be our 13th meeting with the Greek giants since 2009.

We will also face Kairat Almaty - we're just relieved it’s not 3,500 miles away in Kazakstan.

Our away ties will be in Milan, Bilbao, Brugge and Prague.

The toughest test will probably be last year’s runners up, Inter who we also faced last year.

Milan is a lovely city, but the San Siro is quite frankly unsafe, due to the lack of exit points.

For me it’s the away game I’m most likely to get tickets for.

I’d imagine I will go but I’m not too chuffed about returning to the San Siro.

We will also travel to Bilbao in northern Spain not too far from where Mikel Arteta grew up. Former Sociedad duo Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino can expect a frosty reception from the home supporters.

There will also be trips to Brugge and Prague. All my knowledge of the city of Brugge comes from the 2008 film “In Brugge”. I fear that film wasn’t too popular with the Brugge tourism board. I’d recommend the film though.

As for the football team we will be playing, Club Brugge can be a tricky side, and they did reach the last 16 last season.

It could be an interesting trip for our travelling supporters. Just don’t ask Colin Farrell for any sightseeing advice.

As for Slavia Prague, we beat them 7-0 in the group stage in 2007 and more recently we beat them 5-1 on aggregate in the quarter finals of the Europa League in 2021 with a breathtaking 4-0 win behind closed doors in Prague.

I’ve always wanted to visit Prague although I will probably have to wait as I’d imagine this will sell out to those on relatively high credits and I’ve only got six at the minute.

Overall, while the draw didn’t provide the away trips I personally wanted, it did throw up two really exciting home games against two world class sides and I think you’d have to say Arsenal will feel as though they really ought to finish in the top eight again and qualify for the round of 16 automatically as we did with ease last year.

The exact dates for the eight games will be announced on Saturday so don’t go booking any flights and hotels just yet.

Will we finally get our hands on old Big Ears in 2026?

We just might you know……