'Not the biggest fan!' - Lionesses hero Beth Mead criticises new Women's Champions League format as Arsenal aim to retain European title

The north London outfit savoured a memorable success in 2024-25, but are now taking a different path to ultimate glory. The league phase sees each team face six fixtures - three at home and three on the road - with the top four teams qualifying automatically for the quarter-finals. Those ranking between fifth and 12th enter the play-off round, while anybody finishing 13th or lower is eliminated.

The ‘Swiss Model’ has been introduced across European competition in the men’s game, but Arsenal forward Mead - who has helped England to back-to-back Euros triumphs - is not convinced that a tweak to the Champions League format delivers obvious benefits.

The Lionesses hero told Disney+ after finding the target in the Gunners’ 2-0 victory away at Benfica: "I'm not the biggest fan, I like group football and knockout football. I think that's a beauty of football, but ultimately this is the way it's now [and] we've got to play what's in front of us."

Mead opened the scoring for Arsenal in Portugal, with England team-mate Alessia Russo doubling their advantage in the 89th minute. Assessing a battling performance, Mead added: "It was tough, we knew we were going to come here and Benfica are a very physical team. They like to get under your skin. Obviously we like to play football and we knew that we shouldn't get involved .... It is hard, but we got the three points, got the two goals and that's how it came in."

Arsenal have happy memories of gracing the field in Lisbon, as that was the scene of their stunning Champions League final victory over Barcelona back in May. They now have a target on their back as rivals from across Europe seek to knock them from the loftiest of perches.

Mead said of that challenge: "Once you win it, everyone wants to beat you. And, ultimately we've got up our game again. We had an up and down Champions League season last season and obviously we don't want to play out like that again. But we're looking forward to the challenge. We've got to step up to the challenge and we've got to be even better than we were last year."

Arsenal, who were beaten by Lyon in their opening European game of 2025-26, have now reached another international break. Head coach Renee Slegers will be using that to assess what has happened and plan for what is to come.

She told the Gunners’ official website: "It's always a big reflection moment for us as a staff. Especially the first week, we will review both pre-season and the first block of games. And then the second week, we will preview the next block that's coming up. So it's always a good moment for us.

"There's plenty of learning and plenty of energy is built to start the next block again. And I'm happy there's a lot of players going to international camps. We'll have a couple of players at home and everyone will do their thing, but I look forward to the start of block two."

Arsenal, who sit fifth in the WSL table, will not be in action again until taking in a trip to Leicester on November 2. They will then head into a testing run of fixtures that Slegers needs to ensure her squad are fully prepared for.

After playing host to Chelsea, the Gunners head to Bayern Munich in the Champions League and then Tottenham for a north London derby date. A return to continental competition sees them play host to Spanish giants Real Madrid, before then tackling Liverpool on home soil.