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Photo from Freepik
Morning all.
Arsenal’s record against Bayern Munich has really left a lot to be desired, so much so that I kind of get a feeling that as a club they don’t actually respect Arsenal that much. They don’t see us as a threat and don’t see us as being on the same level as themselves. In fact in the past, Bayern have tended to almost look down their noses at the Gunners, seeing us as a stepping stone to the next round and certainly not seen us as contenders. Even when we played them a couple of seasons ago there was a condescension from the Bavarians which I’m sure Mikel Arteta made a note of, not letting those feelings pass him by.
Arteta takes each game as it comes and with that in mind he freshened up the defence. Mosquera came in for the impressive Hincapie and Calafiori was replaced by Lewis-Skelly at left-back – tactical decisions of course as Bayern aren’t Tottenham and will bring many different problems for us to contend with. Odegaard made the bench alongside Martinelli and Madueke so the quality on the bench was as good as it gets.
The game kicked off with the rain drizzling down making the pitch even more slippery and Bayern soon settled into their confident Teutonic style as Arsenal found themselves pressed into their own half, a rare experience for the Gunners.
Kimmich set the pace doing the Zubimendi job for the Bavarians. It took a good 10 minutes for Arsenal to adjust, to get closer to their opponents and to start putting in the challenges to knock Bayern out of their stride. Bayern bossed most of the possession in the opening 20 minutes although Arsenal did threaten occasionally from set pieces.
Merino was feeding on scraps and Saka was being closed down, often unfairly by multiple Bayern players, the Italian referee showing a PGMOL interpretation far too often for my liking.
Then on 22 minutes an Arsenal corner caused some chaos in the German box and Timber headed home. Bayern looked stunned. This wasn’t in the script and for the next few minutes the Bavarians looked shaky.
On 32 minutes the Bayern wingers switched and we got caught out. A long diagonal pass by Kimmich found Serge Gnaby who easily outpaced Lewis-Skelly and his driven cross was side footed home for the equaliser. Nobody scores out of nothing quite like the German club and it knocked us back.
Arsenal were shaken and things could have really turned nasty but eventually the reds got back some equilibrium. On 37 minutes Leo Trossard went off with a suspected calf injury and Madueke replaced him and it was his trickery and pace which turned the momentum. It was unfortunate for Leo but maybe it worked in Arsenal’s favour?
There was a bit of a pinball scare in the Arsenal box and Arteta got booked for complaining after yet another foul on Saka but the half finished with the Germans probably feeling that the game was in their hands. Arsenal needed some magic from somewhere, an Eze moment or a Madueke dribble into the box but the lack of a cutting edge up front was more apparent than we have seen for a while. H/T 1-1.
I don’t know what Mikel Arteta said a half-time but Arsenal came out transformed and led by the dynamism and drive of Declan Rice, aided and abetted by Zubimendi who just grows with every game, Arsenal just went for Bayern’s throat and the Bavarians didn’t know how to respond and couldn’t increase their tempo.
Neuer tipped over from a Saka shot on 48, then on 55 a Saka cross was headed by Merino straight at Neuer then on 58 another Rice corner was driven into the box and Merino headed wide, unable to get a good contact. On 59 minutes a rattled Vincent Kompany got booked and we began to sense that the confidence of Bayern was just beginning to crack. On 60 minutes Rice yet again put in another pinpoint cross that Mosquera looked to have headed home but a big German hand from Neuer saved the day, all the same the Bavarians were rocking.
62 minutes and Rice drove into the Bayern half and straight at their goal leaving a trail of black shirts in his wake but once again Neuer, sporting a dodgy looking moustache, saved the day. Bayern then finally struck back and Michael Olise turned Myles inside out and almost broke our hearts and that was the signal for the change that won the tie. Arteta sent on Calafiori for Myles and Martinelli for the battered Saka on 68 minutes.
On 69 minutes Arsenal finally got their reward for going toe to toe with Bayern and showing that the Bavarians were not unbeatable. Declan Rice read a loose pass and from his interception he set Calafiori away and nobody was catching the Italian stallion. From his pinpoint driven cross Madueke arrived to fire home his first ever Arsenal goal and that’s when the Bayern hex was finally lifted.
We still had 20 minutes left but Bayern, whilst applying a little pressure, never really threatened despite a raft of substitutes. Calafiori shut down any threat from our left side and Timber was just the boss in charge on the right. Saliba and Mosquera were solid as a rock in between.
Bayern pushed on more around 76 minutes just looking for an equaliser and that’s when Michael Olise, trying to break into the Arsenal box, was dispossessed. The ball went to Eze who immediately saw the opportunity and he sent a beautifully weighted pass to Martinelli who had already sped away from the desperate Bayern defenders. Neuer tried to bring Gabby down but he skilfully knocked the ball past and ran past the flailing Bavarian goalkeeper and steered home the killer third goal sending the Emirates faithful into full party mode. The Arsenal had finally nailed the Bayern bogey.
Odegaard came on for Eze and Ben White for Timber on 80 which gave us the fresh legs to see it out. We came close to a 4th goal without quite pushing the envelope. It was what I sensed as a grown up European performance from a squad of players who are, given a fair crack, on the cusp of greatness.
We march on.
**By Kev**