In the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal tie, Bayern Munich secured a 1-0 victory over Arsenal at the Allianz Arena. The German side will now have to face Real Madrid who also advanced to the Semi-final stage of the competition.
After the two sides shared the spoils in the opening leg back in London, Thomas Tuchel and his team would have been confident heading into this game knowing fully well that they had the support of the home crowd who produced such an electrifying atmosphere after they had been banned from going to the Emirates Stadium.
It was a slow start to the game with neither team able to create a host of chances, but Gabriel Martinelli had the best opportunity to open the scoring in the first half. The Brazilian arrived in the box unmarked after a cross from Martin Ødegaard, but his powerful left-footed strike was straight down the throat of Manuel Neuer, with the German claiming the ball easily.
After the break, Bayern came out of the blocks at pace and had plenty of opportunities to break the deadlock with Leon Goretzka and Raphaël Guerreiro both striking the post within a few seconds. The Gunners were barely clinging on at this point with Bayern producing a series of counter attacks.
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Meanwhile, Jamal Musiala had been top-notch throughout the game as he posed a constant threat to the Arsenal midfield and defence. Tuchel’s men were finally able to find the back of the net as Joshua Kimmich powered a header home from a superb RaphaëlGuerreiro delivery, a goal which later proved to be the decisive goal in the tie.
Despite going a goal down, Arteta’s side struggled to create chances, producing just 0.54 expected goals in the game with Bayern managing 1.33. However, the Gunners still remained resilient forcing the home side to fall back and defend in numbers quite a number of times during the game.
As Tuchel switched to a back-three with the introduction of Kim Min-Jae, Arsenal were unable to find their rhythm to produce a goal as the Bayern defence became a real brick wall.
A shot at Bavarian redemption
Seeing as the Bundesliga title slipped out of their hands for the first time in 11 years, Bayern understood their task and accomplished it really well with a fine, well-worked goal and a very impressive backline till the very end, frustrating every effort their guests had made.
Bayern and Real Madrid will now lock horns in the semi-final of the competition, with the Spanish giants having also qualified after knocking out Manchester City on penalty Shootouts.
Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta and his men must focus all their attention on the Premier League title race if they are to round off this season with silverware as they have been knocked out of all domestic competitions.
Reflecting on their campaign, The Spaniard said:
“We haven’t been in the Champions League for 7 years. We haven’t been in this position for 14 years but our intention is to fast-forward everything and in our first season be ready to play in the semi-finals and we were very close.
Unfortunately, we haven’t managed to do it so we have to learn from it, me first and earn the right to be in the same position next season.
I’m obviously very sad, the dressing room is very disappointed, we had a lot of hope, but the margins in this competition are super small, and we lacked to make the difference in those moments.
We had our moments again. I think the team played with a lot of personality, but we lacked that magic moment at some stage or to force a mistake, because that happens as well to go through in the tie. We have to congratulate Bayern; they have done it, and they are through.”
The Champions League has been nothing short of Intriguing and fascinating up until this point. With only four teams now left to battle it out at the Semi-final stage, the competition will be at its peak as all teams will be keen to claim European glory at Wembley.
