For Arsenal, tasting defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich has become all too common over the years, but Mikel Arteta's men flipped the script on Wednesday night as they ran riot on home soil to defeat Vincent Kompany's side 3-1. It happened to be the first loss of the 2025/26 season for Kompany – and the Belgian manager, 39, is being slammed for his post-match comments.
Jurrien Timber opened the scoring in the 22nd minute after the Dutchman latched onto Bukayo Saka's cross and guided his header beyond Manuel Neuer before a well-worked Bayern goal saw Lennart Karl get on the scoresheet.
All in all, though, the Germans were no match for Arsenal. The second half encapsulated Arsenal's enviable robustness at the back and their ability to damage teams in the final third: Noni Madueke regained their one-goal lead in the 69th minute before Gabriel Martinelli, with Neuer running straight towards him in no man's land, finished off into an empty net.
Kompany's Post-Match Comments Regarding Arsenal
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Losing is not a familiar feeling for Kompany – commonly admired as one of the best young managers in world football – and his players. On what went wrong for Harry Kane and co., Kompany said: "We played against a very good Arsenal team today, so well done to them. I think we started the game well enough, but then they had a bit of momentum with the set pieces.
"At half-time, I thought continuing that way would give us the win – and then, in the second half, we didn't come out at all. We sort of let ourselves down in the second half in comparison to what we are used to. I think we exposed ourselves a little bit easily to them. They've got quality as well, we've got to recognise that. They've got a very, very strong bench.
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Kompany then insisted that Arsenal's quality – due to their desirable strength in depth – does not experience a significant drop when regular starters come off, and they make substitutions. He also made another claim, one that raised eyebrows, as he suggested that he'd like to play the Gunners again as a means of returning the favour. He said:
"I’d love to play them again, as soon as possible. We’ll have to wait a little bit and, hopefully, in the latter stages with a good amount of learning from this game."
Unbeaten in the Bundesliga with ten wins from 11, the likes of Kane and Michael Olise would do everything in their power to prevent facing another loss against the high-flying north Londoners – but wherever that chance will arise remains to be seen.
Elsewhere, according to Peter Schmeichel per The Metro, Kompany was livid in the tunnel after his side's defeat in London. "Oh my God!" the former Manchester United goalkeeper said. "Literally the other side of where we are is the entrance to the dressing room. He was the first one here and he was so angry. I’ve never seen him like that!"
Arsenal Fans React to Kompany's Post-Match Remarks
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By virtue of the fact that Kompany – during his trophy-laden playing days – turned out for Manchester City, it's safe to say that Arsenal fans particularly enjoyed their emphatic win on Wednesday. The taste of success was all the sweeter given the pre-existing woes and the Emirates Stadium faithful were also critical of Kompany's post-match comments.
"He sounds bitter and hurt… you want to play us again?" one questioned as another doubted the defender-turned-manager's admission, given how well Arsenal are operating at the moment. They wrote: "'I’d love to play them again'. Yeah mate, course you would."
"All I hear is a bunch of excuses. Hopefully we will play you again!"
"We’ll happily play you again in the knockouts, guaranteed passage to the next round for us," another Arsenal supporter joked before a fourth insisted that Arsenal should be stronger in the latter rounds of the competition as others will have returned from injury. "Sounds good, we’ll have all of our injured players back by then," they wrote.
Arsenal fans continued to joke around with Kompany, suggesting that he should take the loss on the chin and move onto what's to come. "Take your L and move on, man," they said. For the Bavarian outfit, they now play host to St. Pauli in the German top flight before playing Union Berlin in the DFB Pokal. Another added: "Take your L and move on, man."