Arsenal played out a 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich at the Emirates this evening, leaving the quarter-final finely balanced.
Arsenal went into this game full of confidence, as they had been one of the best clubs in Europe in 2024. It did not take long for them to threaten Bayern.
Gabriel Martinelli nearly opened the scoring inside the opening seven minutes, but he shot just wide after receiving a fine pass.
Arsenal sent a message with that attempt, but Bayern did not get the message, and five minutes later, the Gunners opened the scoring through Bukayo Saka after a superb assist from Ben White.
White nearly turned scorer minutes later when played through, but Manuel Neuer saved well.
Two minutes after that miss, Arsenal were made to pay as Leon Goretzka set up former Gunner Serge Gnabry, who scored the equaliser.
Neuer was then forced into a stunning save by Jakub Kiwior as Arsenal battled to get back in front. The Polish defender had another chance saved again by Neuer.
The always-perfect William Saliba then tripped Leroy Sane after the tricky winger went on a mazy run, and Bayern were awarded a penalty that Harry Kane converted to give them the lead in an action-filled half.
Mikel Arteta swapped Kiwior for Oleksandr Zinchenko immediately after the break, and Declan Rice was Arsenal’s first player to come close to scoring in the second half, but he missed the target.
Gnabry then threatened Arsenal with an ambitious shot, but it was wide as Arteta subbed on Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus for Martinelli and Jorginho.
Arsenal was beginning to run out of ideas and time to unlock the Bayern defence, but Jesus changed that with some lovely footwork in the Bayern area and set up fellow substitute Trossard to score the equaliser with at least 14 minutes left.
Arsenal were on top for some minutes after their goal, and Bayern also had their chance to dominate possession, but no team came close to scoring before Arteta subbed on Thomas Partey for Kai Havertz.
Bayern would then come the closest to scoring the winning goal as Kingsley Coman somehow hit the post from just a few yards out, and it was a huge let-off for Arsenal.
Partey then sent a stunning through ball for Saka to chase. He dribbled past Neuer, who made contact with the attacker for what should have been a stonewall penalty. Surprisingly, the referee did not give it, and VAR did not overturn his decision for what would become the last significant action of the game.
That decision will be debated for a long time, but Arsenal will now have to win in Germany to progress to the semi-final.
If we will play with that bag of nerves in Germany, it would be better to push for a penalty shootout
@yea Gai, I think this game suits GJesus than KHavertz, I also feel Pathey’s ability in tight space and long range passes could help in second leg.
There is a chance for Arsenal at Alliance Arena because Arteta would be much more ready, now that he knows Bayern better. It’s all to play for.
Trossard should play ahead of Matinelli except Matinelli picks form.
Yes. Hopefully Arteta will prepare his main players better for the next meeting, because Arsenal would likely get suffocated by the atmosphere at Allianz Arena and lose the ball possession
I think the Boys have gone past been intimidated by big teams fans. They played in Anfield and Ethihad this season without losing but came out with a draw. The second leg is very much winnable.
I hope you’ll be proven right. Because the squad will travel to another country, not to a city in England
They beat Sevila in Spain
Draw with PSV in Holland.
2013 Bayern 0::2 Arsenal
And Arteta in the team as well
Bayern played the game smartly and prevented us from getting into our rhythm. Our lack of experience clearly shows. Both teams are unfamiliar with one another but BM has got the advantage of experience.
So a draw is definitely a good thing as we should now know how BM plays and the expectations in the return leg. Bring on the second leg!
We now know about BM
Don’t they now know about us also.
I think we’re out of the CL already
Every UCL match we just turn into a bunch of nervous wrecks. If we keep out composure we could’ve gotten past Porto much easier, and could have an advantage in this first leg. 2-3 players making a mistake for the first goal, and same for the 2nd. Lots of sloppy passing too. Partey, this is why he cant start these final matches of the season. So many clumsy giveaways. I just don’t trust him. I thought our attackers did fine, and Jesus looked fantastic coming on and Leo’s finishing is deadly. Martinelli doesn’t look up to speed yet. Decision to make on the weekend over who starts there. And Saka, at the death, just go for the shot. It was sorta embarrassing watching him look for contact like that. You cant trick Neuer like that… All to play for, and hope we switch back into serious mode on Saturday and are up for Villa. Because this match felt a lot like those matches in late last season where we just bottled it.
Positives is that Zinchenko really helped us boss possession and stabilize the game in 2nd half, Rice playing at a high standard as usual too. I’m really hoping Leo starts this weekend. Best finisher at the club and uncomplicates what we love to complicate sometimes.
Good takes RSH.
Partey looks quite rusty and gave away possession cheaply at least twice, but he’s only returning… and will be great with just a little more game time – I so rate him!
Saka clearly fluffled his lines with that last chance. Martinelli has been below par all season to me.
Our offensive play remains sloppy and we still struggle to score goals.
In all, not really a bad result in my books and would fancy us getting over them.
Do you think Leo starts in 2nd leg? I know he’s accused of ghosting some matches and is a better impact sub, but Martinelli has also had similar games. I understand he’s also coming back from injury in this one too though. Jesus on LW would also be a good option. im just not too hot on having the same front 3 away to them. It’s a winnable match is the very good news, but team selection will be so crucial.
Your last sentence is right.
I would start Jesus at LWF and keep Harvetz at CF.
Then depending on how the game goes, would sub
a) Trossard on (for Harvetz) at LWF, and move Jesus to CF.
b) Trossard on for Jesus at LW.
Martinelli could come in for Jesus or Harvetz and play at LWF or CF. However, I don’t want him any where near RWF, unless for some reasons Saka is being taken off.
Jesus, I learnt was naturally a LWF at Palmeiras before Pep converted him to a CF at City. His body language, play, and stuff clearky suggest he’s better at the flanks and hardly anything CF.
They couldn’t handle Jesus within the box at-all
I don’t see the point of starting Jesus and putting him the left – let go into the box and cause them those troubles they can’t handle
Moreso the left wing is almost bland with him there
I’ll stick with Martinelli on the left
We’ll defend more in Munich, they’ll practically play us from beginning to end just like we did to them also
So our chances of scoring would be via counterattack which will suit Martinelli
And that way we still have a ready-solution on the bench in Trossard
I also feel Kai should come into the midfield with Rice
Jorginho will not be able to handle them in Munich
And Partey still has a costly leading-goal error in him – he’s still too rusty to start that type of match – if not Partey-Rice would have been the best pairing
Then Tomiyasu is the solution we have to Sane
Well said. Let Jesus start as CF with Martinelli as LW and Kai in the midfield along with Rice and Odegaard.
Keep thinking back to the chance In the first half when Havertz put White clean through but it is what it is. Saka should have finished it at the end but still confident we can go through. No Davies in the return leg, hopefully no Sane and Gnabry. Surely Bayern have to show more attacking impotence at the Allianz and that will also benefit us.
I’d say, with a couple of tweaks to our line up and we got em beat next go round. Jus sayin…
The arsenal fans twerking for rivals that were desperate we wouldn’t win saying it’s not a pen are insane. Did you see the Sane pen? min contact. What is wrong with you the rivals wanted it not to be given they don’t believe it was a dive. FFS use your brain.
Ok we get it that any Arsenal fan not convinced that it’s a penalty are insane and don’t use their brains. FFS please don’t use FFS and find a less annoying way of getting your point across
I think the reason the Saka penalty wasn’t given was to balance out the incidence when Gabriel handled the ball from Raya after the whistle was blown for the game to resume. The referee told Tuchel after the match that that was a “kid’s mistake” on Gabriel’s side and he wasn’t awarding a penalty for it in a UCL quarters. As per the rules, it’s a clear penalty and he was being very very fair to Arsenal.
Common
Neuer just stood in front of Saka to block a shot if he intended to shoot
Neuer simply just made himself big in front of Saka and stopped moving right in front of him
He did not foul Saka at-all
Saka tried to draw the foul
It was Saka who went to contact Neuer by himself
Yes there was contact
But contact made by Saka
Go check it out unbiasedly again
Neuer ran and stopped right in front of Saka
The thing is : Saka saw the keeper coming and made up his mind to get to the ball before the Keeper
He knew the Keeper had a chance but he just made up his mind on “I must get to this ball before you”
Also with the thought: “If I get to the ball before you any contact you make would be a penalty”
But the supreme experience of Neuer prevailed, he made sure not to contact Saka, hoping he would feign a foul instead of finding a way to muddle the ball into the net
Neuer was brilliant
He made it difficult for Saka to continue after cutting past him – as Saka would probably need to jump over him, then tumble before being able to roughen the ball into the net
But Neuer also made sure he didn’t touch Saka himself – it was Saka that touched him – so Neuer made absolutely no foul on Saka
Angus, once again, your incessant, ludicrous bias, is making your disrespectful comments worthy of the bin. NOT once, have you mentioned the BLATENT penalty that Bayern should have had, by Gabriel. Sanes was 100% a penalty, SO was Gabriels Sakas was not 100% at all. Your comments are rediculous.
wake up call
It is indeed a “wake up call”. I’d urge fans to lower expectations in CL, next season will be better.
Strange, I thought you was saying that we were going to win both the PL and the CL Vamos?
Am I wrong?
There’s no “stonewall penalty” with that last action, imvho.
More silly pens have surely been given, but replay clearly shows Saka’s outstretched legs catching Neuer. I won’t call it a dive, but it could easily be punished for a simulation. That said, the officiating wasn’t great overall.
Sane?
So Angus you said me not being sure of Saka penalty until I see replays from all angles “says a lot”.
After seeing all the replays what is your opinion now? Was it a penalty or not? It would help if you elaborate your opinion.
What did Saka do compared to Sane and was the contact larger? Maybe there are angles I have not seen that show Saka dived. I suspect they are cut shots in certain scenarios to suggest something that didn’t happen in real time but I could be wrong. It is interesting how you want to dissect the sake pen but haven’t and won’t dissect the Sane pen?
Show the same energy for our opponents? Or am I just crazy in thinking that?
The ref didn’t give it and all I said was it’s difficulty to know if the ref got it right or wrong until seeing replays in all angles.
I didn’t say it’s a penalty or not.
Since my comment was on Saka’s penalty and me being not sure until I see replays “says it all” why don’t you give me details on why it’s a penalty.
As I said earlier what I saw was Neuer both feet firmly on the ground, so Saka may have tripped on them if Neuer was in the way or he may have been the one hitting Neuer if he was not in the way.
PS I didn’t see Bayern penalty I started watching the game closer to 70th minute. I will check it in the highlights and will not be surprised if we have been robbed again as per tradition.
? over ? over ?
State you watched late and come in with strong opinions?
Regardless your opinon on the Sane penalty vs the Saka penalty would be golden either way.
Suspect you’ll deflect again. Hardcore analysis!
I saw the incident so what is your point exactly? Try as you might you can’t deflect from what I asked from you.
I didn’t deny it was a penalty or accept it was. Just not sure yet “it said all”
You can’t give any analysis of why its a penalty even though you saw the incident and replays.
Okay then fine. Give analysis of why Sane’s was not a penalty and Saka’s was a penalty.
What does the rules says? Why did the ref got all two wrong?
Your lack of knowledge on the rules “says it all”
You are not replying so ill add you have two direct incidents to compare with each other. How’s that work out?
Angus, I rreally won’t call it a dive (but a simulation); he seems to purposely ran into Neuer to make the contact, and duly fell – an act that could easilybe seen as an attempt to coin the ref; a simulation.
Explain the ball after and the situation. Why dive when it’s easy open goal?
That’s exactly why we all annoyed at Saka
He’d simply made up his mind to just get to the ball before the Keeper
Which he did
But he forgot he’s playing against a Senior Man that can come so close and still not foul you
Saka should have found a way to put the ball into the net
It would have been difficult cos Neuer made sure to stifle his chances even though he beaten him
But Saka feigned a foul instead of going all out to find a way to score the goal
It would’ve been a goal he’ll need to roughen to get but he could still score it
It’ll be hard…
Ah well, i must admit i expected at least a narrow win, but it is what it is, it’s the Champions league and from the look of things we are better of OUT at this stage. we turn our attention on Villa’s visit next. COYG!!!
It’s half time, Trossard must play in Germany, along with Tomiyasu.
The team was nervous and Arteta made some mistakes in team selection as well. First if you are going to play kiwior than why keep him out of team for last 2 games. Same with Jorginho we know he can not play two games back to back in short time, his legs go than why didn’t we start with Partey or put Havertz in mid. Hopefully we will be bit calm in Munich. We can get through this if we play Like we have played most of season.
Can’t handle the bias, not a pen at all. Saka deliberately sticking out his leg to make contact. Don’t care what’s been given/not given before, that’s not a penalty….if you are being honest. Roles reversed you’d say never a pen.
Draw is a decent overall, we’ll have to be up for it in Germany.
Got a decent gap between now and the Villa game so time to rest and prep for that which is a priority for us.
PJ-SA
that is a pen all day long and that’s not being biased
Not to go and view it on the screen is criminal
Onwards and upwards
Even Arsenal TV guys agree it’s not….then you 100% know
Not here to convince anyone, it’s very clear and obvious. Globally he’s getting slated currently for it too. Could’ve stayed up and have a great opportunity to score, I know which option I’d have preferred to see.
was it clearer than sane pen that led to the situation and if not explain why?
What ever angles you look at it from it is a pen
Saying that just seen the shout for a Munich pen a.d that is a definite pen for them as well
Whistle blown and Gabriel picks up the ball and replaces it . Omg this ref was absolutely rubbish
Beleive he was the ref who took charge of the Newcastle game.. was rubbish then
Allan, do you expect Arsenal to ever get a fair suck of the sausage in Europe?
Agree. How many times have our players left a leg out and had opponents eagerly make sure to trip over it.? And virtually every time, everyone says there was contact, it was stupid/clumsy, but it was a pen.
And in this case, the keeper purposefully moves his leg to obstruct Saka. If our keeper had done that it would be given 100% of the time. And to not even have VAR look at it (or spend a second if they did) was pathetic.
Neuer did not move his leg
You making that up
He stood his ground very firmly after getting in front of Saka
It’s laughable some fans think anything given against us is wrong
So Sane’s foul was not a penalty ?
Very Very Laughable
I watched the highlights again and saw Gabriel about to make a tackle but realizing he wouldn’t get the ball he withdrew his tackle – as it was in the box
Saliba just immediately came from behind and threw a tackle without touching the ball at-all
And some people say it’s not a penalty
So until our defenders stab the attacker before you’ll agree it’s a penalty ???
Not everything that goes against us is wrong abeg ?
Just Hear yourself
Assuming you even agree that Sane’s was a penalty then say Saka’s should have been a penalty then I can understand
But insinuating everything called against us is always wrong is just supreme delusion
💯
Absolutely right with every word!
That said, Sane’s is pen all day, (again, even if they don’t get given a few times).
The two incidents other than the pen debates, are in no way same nor closely related.
You’re right, and not one protest from our players that I can remember, and you could tell from Salibas expression that he knew he’d made a big mistake when the ref gave the penalty.
Raya caused the first goal. He should be mindful of how he comes out. Kiwior was nervous and poor against Sane. It was a penalty against Sane. Saka should have put the ball inside the net. He kicked Neur and so, not a penalty. Martinelli is not fully fit. His poor performance is often as a result of the player behind him. He is always at his best with Tomiyasu behind him and Jesus leading the attack. If Zinchenko must start, let Jesus play at LWF or Rice play deep in the midfield. This will for cover up when Zinny drifted away. The coaching staff should include shooting as part of their training. You don’t always have to walk ball into the net. In all, the boys tried. Draw is better than lose. If Bayern can score in Emirates, we can also score in the home if we play to our strength.
Why on earth is Saka trying to initiate a penalty, when he had Neur beaten. Saka has to be smarter than that. Strange one for me.
Thought the same thing sue, he had Neuer beaten, why go down for a penalty when it was easier to score into an open net?
Sorry meant Reggie
Honestly speaking, that wasn’t a penalty
Stop listening to rivals, why on earth did sane go down (and yes white would of blocked him but the contact was less.)
Be consistent
👍Reggie
PS-JA, Saka should have taken the ball round Neuer for a simple tap in, rather than playing for the penalty. From 62 years of following Arsenal, it is difficult to remember Arsenal ever being given anything by referees in Europe.
Respectfully, it’s never a pen imho Ozziegunner. Saka arguably only tried to make a pen out of a poor decision.
👍dO2, the more I watched it the more I agree with you , others and the referee on this occasion. Thierry Henry and Ian Wright both agreed it wasn’t a penalty.
I was frustrated by past experiences watching Arsenal in Europe and the fact that Saka had the opportunity to play round Neuer or pass square to his supports (rather than playing for a penalty), White’s missed opportunity to make it 2-0 and Arsenal gifting Bayern Munchen being gifted two goals.
Arsenal’s inexperience in champions league clearly showed ; you have no business playing a very high line against a very technical and skillful team like Bayern and again Kiwior shouldn’t have started the match . Then again our keeper totally disorganized the defence in the
Bayern’s first goal due to his rash
decisions
How can you blame Kiwior when the goal came from Raya being so far up the pitch and miscommunication with Gabriel?
He didn’t blame Kiwior for the first goal
He clearly said Raya disorganized the defense by needlessly coming that far out
But Kiwior falled 100% in marking Sane
The second goal started with Sane just turning around him too too easily
And that was the theme of his match-up with Sane
He was just non-existent to Sane
Giving Rob-Holding vibes
If it was Saka behind Sane he wouldn’t even beat Saka that easily
Kiwior was extremely poor against Sane
Agree, Babasola, Sane roasted Kiwior as he has embarrassed many opposing players over the years.
And to think we were considering buying him once, or it might have been suggested to Arsenal to buy him when he had a bit of a poorish spell at City.
Today Martinelli was not his usual self. I felt he needed to be substituted earlier with Trossard coming on.
After the replays of the penalty incident I felt Saka left his foot out. Some of these are given whilst some not.
We just did not take our chances with White’s chance being a major one.
We tried to force the issue and play with a high line.
It is a 50-50 game at the Allianz Arena. We just have to play like them with a low block and on the counter and I feel we will win.
On the positive note Worst I have seen us play this year 2024 and we still.managed to pull out a draw
Some really below par performance today .
Back 5 not as solid as normal and some heads gone defending at time
Still more then positive we will go there and do a job on them.
They are a quality team but it’s more then a winnable game for us over there
Onwards and upwards
Allan, the normal lack of solidity arose from a very jittery goalkeeper failing to set the tone.
I don’t think it was just down to one player. A lot player played below there normal standard
On reflection a fair result
We got away with one when Gabriel picked up the ball. A pen all day long
With regards to Saka. Watched it a few times and if that was outside the box the the ref would have blown for a free kick so that’s a pen.
BM may not have had a good season in the league but they have quality all over the park.
I still believe we can go there a do them in there own back yard.
Onwards and upwards
We were clearly nervous tonight and also clearly the best team. The pen ironically as it turned out put us on the back foot and then no pen. Is what it is.
That was never a penalty and saka should have just kicked the ball through the legs of neuer, that being said, our defence was very poor today from white to kiwior who i dindnt know was this slow, wow, to raya who i have no idea what he was looking for in the center circle.
The whole team was poor havertz, martinelli, odegard, saka every one, that goodness jesus used his trickery well today to set up trossard who has rescued us so much and gotten us so many crucial points this season. If it wasnt for him we wouldn’t even be challenging for the title let alone being in the ucl q.finals.
The boys better shape up next week and play like thier lives depended on it.
They can still do it.
Jeez !
Odegaard was not poor at all
I was just annoyed they wanted to go the right side Everytime
They were not even feinging going to the left – it was one way traffic to the right everytime
Babasola, agree Odegaard was one of Arsenal best players trying for 90 minutes on and off the ball, despite Bayern Munchen’ efforts to mark him out of the game.
I thought that tonight, the only reason Bayern scored was through our own naivety. Nearly all their attacks came about by poor play and poor shape from us. It was a game we should and could have won. Kiwior and Martinelli were poor. The only defender who deserved credit tonight was White. Odergaard tried his little heart out. Why oh why does Arteta NOT trust Trossard. The guy is a little genius and is not given, what he deserves. Im not sure a draw, is good enough. Not because Bayern are a great team (they are not) but because they will have their crowd and they have a few players that keep it calm and know when and how to hurt you. We were very naive tonight and that is something that keeps killing us, just when we look like we have cracked it.
Agree their 1st goal was poor shape but mostly loose possession outside that we were the better team no?
Kiwior awful tonight but so was the rest of our center backs. 3/ 4 players tackled sane to no avail, and we were second best to every single second ball! Very shakey performance. Odegard never stops running and pressing, boy oozes confidence. We can’t afford a worse game in Munich.
Jesus.
Trossard. Odegaard. Saka.
Rice. Partey.
Tomiyasu. Gabriel. Saliba. White.
Raya.
Very nervy play, just a little bravery and could have ended up a big win. Bayern played like Porto, only thing that was missing is the falling down. They kept slowing play and hacking saka down . Fortunately the second leg is in Munich and we will be the ones doing the low block and hitting them on the counter. I feel if we do really end up playing at Wembley the big ears will be landing at the Emirates
Raya – 3
White – 5
Saliba – 5
Gabriel – 5
Kiwior – 3
Rice – 6
Jorginho – 5
Odegaard – 6
Saka – 5
Martinelli – 5
Havertz – 5
Jesus – 6
Trossard – 7
Zinchenko – 6
Joker
SJ,
You award Saka the same points as Gabriel and Saliba who were both error prone in that game? At least Saka should get the same mark as Trossard for scoring a goal.
Form is temporary, class is permanent! Never more true from what we saw.
Reputation, based on history, played a big role tonight. We looked like the poor club we always have done in European competition, and Bayern showed their class and experience. We were very lucky not to lose to them yet again.
I got laughed at by some on here when I suggested Porto and Bayern were the favourites because of their history at this level, and looked what happened!
Anything can happen, and maybe we do finally win the CL this season, but respect the fact we’re minnows on the European stage compared to our last two opponents.
Not the result we hoped for but at least there’s no advantage to Bayern. Thank god UEFA scrapped the away goals rule. We go into the 2nd leg like it’s even at halftime
I’m disappointed that from a leading position we almost didn’t manage a draw. We have talked about nerves but I couldn’t say that our first goal was nervy by any stretch. Sloppy instead to then give the impetus back to Bayern
I felt there was nothing to choose between the penalty awarded and the one that apparently didn’t reach var
Kiwior’s slowness and confusion were the main reasons for conceding the two goals.
Artsenal, Kiwior is being made the scapegoat by you and others. Raya was nervous from the start. He being so far up the pitch and poor communication with Gabriel gave away one Bayern goal. I still can’t see where Kiwior was responsible.
Stop saying this,Kiwior was horrible and all the attack of Bayern came from his side. Besides, in the second goal,an experienced player would have committed a foul and collect yellow card.
Yes the first goal was Raya’s fault
But Kiwior had a stinker defensively from the first minute
Before our first goal there was a run Sane made into the midfield after turning Kiwior anyhow
That moment I was shocked with Kiwior’s marking
And it just continued that way throughout
See how Alphonso was on Saka
White still gave Gnabry and Musiala something to think about when he was up against them
Sane was beating Kiwior with anything and everything he did
Watch the second goal – it started with a very easy turn from Sane with Kiwior right behind him but he put absolutely zero effort to disturb Sane’s move
It was like Sane had no one marking him on that left cos Kiwior just didn’t exist to him
To his credit, Gabriel seemed confused by Raya being where he was and stumbled a little as he attempted to make the pass to Kiwior, and slightly misshit it allowing Sane (I think) to nick the ball. So a bit unfair to also blame Kiwior for that goal.
We needed to take a lead to the Allianz because, I believe, Bayern have lost only one UCL game at home in the past 11 years. It will be a great result if we win but the odds are against us.
At least after the first leg the tie is sitting at 2=2, not 5-1 at effectively half time.
Has anyone seen Gabriel and Saliba under such pressure from a centre forward, as they were playing against Harry Kane. His footballing ability, experience and nouse are levels above Haarland and had them both flustered at times. Thankfully they are both quick learners and can lift their games to their normal high level for the return leg.
Just listened to Mikel Arteta’s post match interview, where he responded in a calm and rational manner to the questioned asked. Mikel has his feet firmly on the ground and hopefully he can instill in the players the need to step up the level and eliminate the mistakes. RESPECT.
First thing is to concentrate on winning Arsenal’s next game against Aston Villa, as the tightness of the EPL means you can’t afford to drop points.
I hope both Jesus and Trossard start the second leg in Germany. They were great and showed real desire. Both Gabriel and Saliba were surprisingly poor but I do think they will come good in the second leg. Odegaard was excellent as usual and I think Havertz was good too with his holdup play.
It’s funny how a single mistake could change the outcome of a game, imagine Arsenal didn’t make that mistake that gave Bayern their first goal, that penalty wouldn’t have happened, if we must win, we must play with confidence, we can get something out of this fixture, just believe.
If white had scored his chance, who knows, we might have battered them. Bayern looked short on confidence at the start, but they undoubtedly have outstanding players, and we let them back in. That’s how things go in football, especially in this competition.
That said, I’m quietly confident about the second leg – it could go either way, but I think we have it in us to get through.
One thing is clearly evident from the match last night and that is our need for a top quality, left back for next season.Regardless of the versatility of Tomi and Timber, they are very limited when it comes to supporting our left winger and this has created an imbalance in our play which cannot be overcome by using Kwior or Zinchenko at LB.Unfortunately Saliba chose last night to have his worst game of the season and his uncharacteristic uncertainty seemed to impact on others.Partey has to start against Villa to get him match fit for the return in Munich .He has a presence which shows a disregard for the reputation of opposition players and we simply cannot go into the return with any feelings of inferiority despite our opponents excellent record and experience in this competition.
Timber?
Timber is a right back/right centre back 🤦
He played LB for us and did very well in the few games, he played.
CORRECT Rootk1t. He isn’t a natural LB as some seem to insinuate on here.
And in MY opinion, that was also a factor as to why, he got injured. If you know anything about muscles, you cant just play different roles, just like that, without the risk of injury.
I’m in two minds regarding a penalty for the Saka ‘trip’ at the end but am certain that Kane should have got a straight red and BM should have had a pen when Gabriel picked up the ball in the area.
As far as Arsenal are concerned, the stakes are very high for them to contend with them. But Arteta won’t rotate his Gunners team at home against Aston Villa on Saturday in the Epl. Or would he?
No! He SHOULDN’T. Our last home ucl march against Bayern Munchen has been played and it’s over. But it is not yet all over as us have known.
For, Arsenal can still make it to the semi-final match stage if they beat Bayern Munchen at away next Wednesday night at the Alianz Arena. But before the match comes up, Arsenal needs to beat Aston Villa to remain at the top of the Epll table. And keep our hopes to win the title this season alive. This SHOULD be us Arsenal focus presently to deal with it successfully.
On the penalties – the sane and saka calls were exactly right. Sane was tried (you can see his ankles clipped together while he was running) and saka did try to manufacture a penalty, and was rightly ignored.
They technically should have had a penalty for Gabriel’s handball, but I’m actually glad it wasn’t given as it was just a mix up. I’d hate to win or lose a tie on such a petty thing – it wouldn’t be in the spirit of the game. If it weren’t for the pressure surrounding the game, I’m sure even tuchel would agree.
Sane was tripped*
The good news is that away goals no longer count as double in the event of a draw following the two legs, the bad news is that we have to go to Bayern’s home ground where they’ll probably finish us off quite easily, but it didn’t need to be, as we had a good lead and should have increased it soon after, gave away two silly goals, and had to rescue the game.
Our passing was generally poor throughout, BM’s wide players were killing us, although Kane ought to have got a red for his elbow on Gabriel. I don’t think Saka should have got the late, late penalty and of course there was that weird handball incident between Raya & Gabriel.
It was a good game minus the silly errors that led to their goals. Pray what was Raya doing coming out of his goal area like that? Gabriel had that situation covered and a back pass to Raya would have taken care of the threat but our goalie wasn’t home.
Again, what was Gabriel thinking when he stopped a pass from Raya with his hand in the box after the ref had whistled for a restart of the game?That was a clear penalty but fortunately for us the ref considered it a silly mistake. I guess that was why the ref didn’t give the Saka penalty to balance things out. Our defenders should cut out such stupid errors and concentrate 100 per cent in Munich.
I’d like to see where are those people now who were arguing with me yesterday that Raya has been a good signing…
He faces one shot every couple of weeks, if it’s from an average player maybe he saves it, if it’s from a half decent player then he concedes.
His clean sheet numbers are massively inflated because of our solid defence.
We’ve spend $35 million of next summer’s budget, yet somehow we have ended up with a keeper who saves less shots and is even more shakey than Ramsdale…
Just poor business
Oops sorry this wasn’t meant to be reply to above comment, this website is not very Android friendly 🤦
It’s easy to forget that Raya is a big part of why Arsenal is in the quarters in the first place. Raya was jittery,just like most of our players. Of the starting players, only White,Odegaard,Havertz and Saka looked composed. Understandbly,most of our players were nervous because they are inexperienced at this level. I’m sure they have learnt from this game and will be better.
The point was, that we are down $35m in the bank with little to no improvement to the squad.
We would most likely be exactly where we are right now with Ramsdale.
They are very similar to each other, both on stats and eyesight test.
I disagree.
The squad is stronger and Raya is a better all round goalkeeper.
Raya’s initial positioning was not great for the first goal. However, the ball was still in Arsenal’s control and the mistakes that followed were not forced.
Does that give him the license to make a ‘comedy of costly errors?’ Please consistence is the word!!!!!
Raya has been coming out like that the entire season and it us worked for us time and again. It’s just this one time it went wrong,likely because of miscommunication. I think most of our players were nervous. Saliba,for instance is usually composed but he wasn’t in this game. Hopefully they’ll be more composed in the return leg.