Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has ruled out Barcelona as top favourites for the UEFA Champions League this season, pointing to the Gunners and Bayern Munich, instead. The Spanish giants barely escaped with a 1-1 draw from their Round of 16 first leg against Newcastle United on Tuesday.

Henry spoke on the CBS Sports show after watching Bayern Munich pound Atalanta in Bergamo, naming them as an overall better team than Barcelona. He also revealed that he considers Arsenal and Bayern to be the outright favourites to win the competition this season.

“I think that Bayern is way more balanced than Barcelona in terms of how they attack, how they shift places. You will see, whoever it is, it can be the winger inside, the striker like we saw with Nicolas Jackson on the right, they know what they need to do, they press well, they’re very difficult to beat at times.

It looks like at Barcelona sometimes, you have the tie against Atletico in the Copa del Rey where they lost 4-0 and it could’ve been 6-0 or 7-0 to Atletico, then you bring it back to Barca and then it could have been 6-0, 7-0, 8-0 to you. They need to find that consistency and that balance if they want to win and be considered one of the hot favourites to win it – I still think they are. But that balance sometimes that they don’t have make me turn a tiny bit more to Bayern and Arsenal”, he said (via Metro).

Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich delivered a statement scoreline away from home against Atalanta, barely breaking a sweat as they won 6-1. Leading scorer Harry Kane was absent through a calf injury, but the Bavarian outfit eased to victory in Italy.

On the same night, last year’s semi-finalists Barcelona needed a stoppage time penalty from Lamine Yamal to salvage a barely deserved draw. They were second best for most of the encounter at St. James’s Park as they completed the first leg.

Former Arsenal star scores for Bayern Munich on night Barcelona falter

Former Arsenal forward Serge Gnabry was among the goals as Bayern Munich put six past Serie A outfit Atalanta in the UEFA Champion’s League. The German guants pulverised their opposition in swashbuckling style to put one foot in the next round.

Goals from Josip Stanisic and Michael Olise had put Bayern ahead before ex-Arsenal man Gnabry scored their third in the 25th minute. They added more goals through Nicolas Jackson, Olise again, and Jamal Musiala to conclude their whitewashing of Atalanta, who scored a late consolation goal through Mario Pasalic.

Bayern Munich delivered a reminder of their quality while Barcelona struggled in England against Newcastle. The Bundesliga side lost just once in the league phase, against Arsenal, in the Champions League this season, and are firm favourites.