There is no doubt that Arsenal are up against it in the Champions League, after lady luck delivered another swift kick to our nether regions when the draw for the next round of Europe’s top club competition was made before the festive period.
After trying and failing for years to win our qualifying group the Gunners finally came out on top this season by pipping the French champions PSG in the final round of games, only to be rewarded by a knockout round against the German Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich. Cheers.
We could also have got Real Madrid I suppose but with a bit of luck it could have been a team like Benfica, Porto. Leverkusen or Sevilla. And to add to the problems facing Arsenal we have Metro reporting that the Bayern and Poland international striker Robert Lewandowski suggesting that their struggles in the Bundesliga this season will have no bearing on the Champions League, as this is the trophy they are really trying to win.
Well I think Wenger and the Arsenal players should not lose a wink of sleep over the Pole’s warning. For one thing they clearly struggled in their UCL games as well because they came second in their own group. For another they are not in the best of form right now and only managed to win their league game against lowly relegation material Ingolstadt with a goal in injury time.
And finally, we should remember that when Arsenal did get what we thought of as a good draw against Monaco, we managed to blow it, so let’s ignore the warnings and the odds shall we? Let’s just go and get past the Germans into the next round.
Bob.