There were two very obvious options in today’s Champions League draw that Arsenal fans and everyone connected with the club was hoping to avoid, as both Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are among the favourites to win the thing but somehow this year only managed to finish as runners-up.
So of course the Gunners got one of the two, although after Arsene Wenger spoke earlier in the season about his belief that the Spanish reigning European champions were the team to beat, at least we did not get them. Bayern Munich though?
So just as we feared, the Gunners’ reward for finally finishing on top of a UCL qualifying group is one of the hardest possible draws for the first knockout stage. Typical. Meanwhile Man City who only finished second get Monaco and Leicester in their first ever season in it get Sevilla.
Okay it is what it is and there is nothing we can do about it. For now Wenger and the lads need to focus on keeping our excellent Premier League run going. The draw may even help as it certainly means that the EPL title could be our best hope of a major trophy.
The other positive to take is that the German champions have not been great in Europe this year and they are having a tougher time in the Bundesliga, so perhaps we should not be too worried after all. What do you think gooners?
Bob.
congratulations for the director…
but anyways, its BORING… dont you think? Ridiculous, how easy can they maniuplate the draws, yet no one bats an eye.
They are beatable this year
yes, sure they are. when we play our best i really think we are capable of beating anyone.
BUT, i am furious about how they can manipulate the draws.
Its pretty hard to win the cup if they draw us with bayern, then if we win, with barca, then if we win with atletico, then if we win with real madrid etc…
while teams like real, reaching the final, by beating opponents like sevilla, leverkusen, monaco etc…
really frustrated
It is very easy to fix:
They use COLD and HOT balls, according to blatter.
I’m guessing Hummels and Boateng are excited at the prospect of facing Sanchez, Ozil and Walcott… I’m so sure Lewandowski and Muller think Mustafi and Koscielny are pushovers….I’m sure Douggy Costa has forgotten how he was skinned for speed by Bellerin… I’m sure Xabi Alonso is like “Xhaka who? “. Common guys, respect your team and believe in their abilities. I can’t bet the house on either team winning but at least we have a fighting chance this time around, it’s all I ever asked for, players who are not easily intimidated ability wise or in terms of their mental strength.
Everyone already knows Real Madrid fix these draws. They nevert get hard teams until there are little options yet.
@red14
Bayern is a tough draw again, but do you not remember two seasons ago, when we got the easiest possible draw?
If Wenger’s as good as some make out, then it’s about time he knocked out a top team in Europe. Bayern are not as strong as they once were, and we are a lot stronger now. If everyone’s fit, I wouldn’t say there’s a lot in it.
if psg dominated us like that.
Imagine what bayern can do
@ramterta
They might have dominated us. But they did not beat us…And if you remember right, we beat Bayern 2-0 at home last go round.
This time I am very happy with the draw. Either go there and win it or come back and focus on the league.
I have to thumbs down you!! I’ve never seen my team in the quarter finals. And I want to see it soon.
Best draw we could have had IMO. Bayern will mean our lads will show up and give 100% from the first minute and Bayern are not very good this year.
We will eliminate Bayern, no problem.
Bayern who, Barca who, real who, whoever who. That’s what we must do. Remember when we got to the finals. How we got to the finals.
By manipulation, you mean Bayern want us. Oh No they don’t! And if Bayern are not capable of manipulation, we shouldn’t worry
Haha what else did u expect folks. We all knew it’s either bayern or madrid 🙂
Anyway, in terms of quality and mentality I believe our squad this year has what it takes to knock bayern out of the tie, and bayern simply is out of form (for now).
Fitness of bellerin, kos, ozil n sanchez will be key.
1 in 6 chance my rear end. UEFA is bloody rigged. Since the bore-fest that was the AC-Inter final they have consistently ensured the final includes 2 of 3 heavyweights (Barca, Real, and Bayern). Every time one of the three don’t make the semi final at least, they threaten a breakaway and UEFA re-jigs the formula in their favour. City won the league twice and never made Pot A for the group stage- lucky for Leicester one of the big three complained so the formula was re-jigged for this season. It hasn’t worked so well so back to coefficients it is!
We just need to go to the Allianz Arena with the 2013 second leg game mentality (3-1 down) but slightly better. Beat them with as many away goals as possible.
Well this time around Neur will face Sanchez not Giroud..and. Lewandoski will face Mustafi not Mert
the writer of this article should know bayern are more fearsome than real madrid
@ramterta
Only to cowards like you…
I would rather see Arsenal noked out by Bayern than Sevilla or other Smaller team.
we are One of Euro top Club. So we should cop with it
lol we are? A top euro club that can t knock out any decent side
Including Monaco, making me wonder if this draw really even mattered
Why will the writer call Arsenal unlucky? How do you hope to be champions if you fear another team? We need to re-evaluate our mentality as fans.
Would you not call Leicester lucky? The one season coefficients aren’t used, they end up in Pot A. Man City have won their group twice and never been in that pot. If there is such a thing as being lucky, surely there is such a thing as being unlucky. Sure we have beaten Bayern at the Allianz and at the Emirates but were there more fortunate picks this year? Yes- 4. So that makes this a less fortunate or UNLUCKY pick.
Mentality is about respecting your opponents. Not showing any is worse than showing too much.
No draw is lucky or unlucky. It depends on the team that shows up that day. If not we will have beaten Monaco from two seasons ago.
So,now that we got bayern munich,you all now know that UEFA is corrupt and the draw is rigged,when we got Monaco,you didn’t know it was rigged,the type of fans saying this are the type of fans that start biting their finger nails before kick-off. We want to be in the champions league don’t we? Its now time to show the world that we have improved or not,its now time for Wenger and his boys to give us reason why he got knocked out of the EpL cup because some fans say “its to help us focus on the important trophies,And as for the so called “break-away” please make your researches very well before saying what you are not even iota sure about. Funny Arsenal fans.
Try google you muppet
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/08/26/uefa-avoid-threat-of-breakaway-by-europes-top-clubs-with-champio/
Bayern will not be happy with the Draw everyone knows we are so much better then past few years
we just have to take the game to them now that we have a stronger defense which will allow our forwards to be more mentally reassured, my money is on Belering to make the balance on our favor hope his injury free when the time comes
Nonsense, these are basically the same players who bash us every year. They probably wanted us because they know they advance 100% of the time.
yes but we are not the same players as yesteryear’s
Oh goodness, wake up, it’s only December, we’ve hardly won the title. For all we know we could be back to old ways by February. And how many years have we said this and then dropped out of R16 AND title race. Sorry you don’t like my realism or negativity, call it whatever you like but playing well for 3 months doesn’t mean we’re all of a sudden some amazing side
Lets not forget we haven’t lost away game since last April that must count for something
RSH i would of agree with you previous past few years but even you must admit we are a stronger squad then last year and play so much better and with more wining mentality
I’ve thought that in past years as well and then we crap the bed in feb/march. I’ll believe we have changed when I actually see it
@Tas
TOUCHE”…
Paris St-Germain v Barcelona our fate was written before the draw
Lets not forget we haven’t lost away game since last April that must count to something
Unlucky Arsenal? What about unlucky Bayern? You don’t think they would have rather drawn Leicester, Monaco, or Napoli? What a bunch of whinging comments above. There is no conspiracy. Bring it on.
You sure? had we finished 2nd it would have been Barca again- 2nd year running…
Boring!!!
I am glad of the news cause Arsenal play against man against the best men Arsenal are growing big they will beat bayern comfortably and move on to beat the rest competition like that make champions a proper challenge brilliant looking forward for it but we meet everton first let us concentrate on that one first and move on come on the Arsenal its our season to push and take all
Won’t feign optimism, we’re done. We’ll collect the R16 paycheck again. EPL chances will hopefully still exist by then and we can focus on that.
@RSH
Grow some stones dude…
I just don’t have blinders on. Wenger hasn’t shown us in over a decade he can produce a side that isn’t mentally fragile. You call fall for this false dawn act all you want, but I won’t. Nothing is won in December. When Arsenal have a strong Feb/March, then we can start talking about changed confidence and a changed Arsenal side.
We are drawn against Bayern and do what? Not these year. They are out at round of 16. This is not Arsenal of two years back. We ain’t losing easily this term. We are knocking them out. Wait and see. 1-2, 2-1. – 4-2 to the Arsenal.
If they are the best team why didn’t they top their group. Please don’t underestimate Arsenal of now. Our boys don’t capitulate easily again.
It’s a different Arsenal this time around bruv
I honestly don’t support the idea of draws being fix. Any team who wish to get something from a competition like the champions league should be ready to face any team. Are we into this competition to be looking for smaller clubs to play in the first place? Let’s be positive about the chances of our team. The Bayern Munich in question should be afraid of us also. We won them in some of our recent fixtures. If we can beat them with an inferior team then, how much more now that we have a more balanced team. It is not as if they parade the type of stars they had in the past. Rubben and Ribery are not as sharp as they use to be. Player for player we should be confident of our chances this time. I AM NOT AFRAID OF BAYERN MUNICH.
I have no words to express my bad feeling. What a boring draw for Arsenal. As Blatter said it, things are already fixed earlier in the process before the actual drawing activity is performed. There is evidence more than this to know UEFA is really a corrupted organization. I am well aware of the reality that there are no teams to be undermined in any knock out stage games as the situation at that moment matters more than the past status of the clubs. However, how could one club be drown almost always against the elite clubs. There will be no answer for this act except fixation. Any way, we should be strong enough both mentally and physically for the clash against Bayern as nothing can be reversed. Surely Bayern will fear us than before.
I hate the caption of this story, some Arsenal fans dont know how good Arsenal is this season but still judging with the level we were before. Arsenal is a club to be fear, no club want to meet Arsenal at this stage of the turnament. The era of Arteta, Flamini, Sanago, Per Mertesaca, and others ambitousless players had gone, now we have Mustafi, Koncieny, czech, Sanchez,Ozil, Xhaka and other crops of good and talented player. If u want to be a champion u should be ready to defeat the champions. It is good for Arsenal to meet Bayern now and defeat them than to meet them in final. They are not a problem but we are praying that injury should remember of prayers even before or after the match. This is Arsenal yr, i see Bayern as a process for Arsenal to get to the final and win the trophy. We are the best because we must defeat the best now and be the best.
I don’t think its that we don’t know how good the team is I think its more of an outrage that as usual we draw the really difficult team and its seems no coincidence that we have drawn Bayern Munich AGAIN!!!! we ONLY ever seem to draw either Bayern or Barca seems to obvious to me
We have 9nly lost one of last 25 games in the Premier league. The hardest league in the world. Why should we worry about a German team? ?
If they are judging Arsenal based on previous years or even last years performances, then they can’t be called fans. Coz they don’t know their club. Period.
That’s what I have been looking forward to. I wanted us to get either Bayern or Real Madrid. I have confidence in the team we have this season. Bring them on Arsenal is far better than them. This is evident by the fact that we top our group and they came second. I just pray we don’t have injuries by the time we face them.
On another note it looks like some people here are not watching Arsenal play this season. The still think its the same team of the yesteryears. This is going to another game. A complete different match. Arsenal is flying high and higher this year.
BRING THEM ON. WE ARE READY FOR THEM THIS YEAR.
Knocking Bayern off will knock the off the confidence of our next opponent.
Exactly, we’ll have faced a real European test whereas the other big teams aren’t getting a strong enough test (except barca/psg). It might give us an advantage, the experience we get from downing Bayern, we’ll be well up to the task of firing another behemoth out on their ear.
Two ways of looking at it. 1) we are going to have to play one of the European power houses at some stage so lets get it out the way nowand see what happens IF we win.
2)Yes it is a bloody fiddle and we can all see that Rael Madrid HAVE as usual drawn the minnows but what on earth can we do about it? all we can do is beat the opposition and that’s that.
Annoying though as the big euro teams always get an easy ride …apart from Bayern as they have to play us !!!!!
Let’s see the benefit of facing Bayern in such early phase. If Arsenal gets knocked out, they can focus on the Premiere League. And because this is Bayern Munich, not lesser team like Monaco, our players will fight with all their hearts! I expect the battle spirit like what Manchester City shown against Barcelona last time. I hope our players will fight Bayern like they are going to die tomorrow! 😀
I said to my old man a couple days ago “give me real madrid”. If you want to win this competition, you have to play the big boys. BUT BAYERN AGAIN!!!??? This is fixed af
I should say however, I’m not nearly as worried as i have been in recent season granted out boys stay fit and healthy 🙂
if we buy Julian Draxler, and loan James Rodriguez from Madrid and we can win the EPL even the champion league
You don’t wish to win Champions League if you can’t stand up to the best clubs in Europe & Arsenal are just but one of the big teams so there’s no need to worry. Beat Bayern and prove you can win it, any team is beatable!
I hope the all blacks dude knows his stuff, we’ll need some jedi brain wash techniques. It seems everyone has got the draw they wanted except for the two that came from our group, so we avoided barca by coming first, whoopee. I do think Bayern are there for the taking, but will it be the same come feb, after they’ve had three weeks of holiday. At-least we have the second tie at home, I just pray that we have a full team to choose from, if that’s the case well then Bayern better watch out.
Not so bad….I bet PSG are kicking themsleves!
After a bit of time to think about it, I am glad we got Bayern, we have to beat a big team at some time if we want to win it and if Ozil/Alexis hasn’t resigned still then beating the big teams is one way to encourage them to sign…
I’m hoping for a good game and not to go into that game with a massive injury list.