Nick Ames was at the Allianz Arena tonight. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night.
Mikel Arteta gives TNT his verdict. “At the moment it is a gutted dressing room … I cannot find the right words, I wish I had them … we tried against a team with a lot of experience … through the tie the margins have been very small … in moments we have been better … we gave them two goals … that’s a big advantage to give away … the margin of error was zero … we made a mistake defending the box, a big one, and we conceded a goal … this is a moment to stay next to the players … they are the ones who have taken us on this journey … in the first tie we were better than them … the club has been without Champions League for seven years … you want to play in the first year and be in the semi-finals or the final … we all wanted that so badly … but you can see with many other clubs that sometimes it takes six or seven years to get to that stage … we were very close, that is the reality … what we have to play [in the Premier League] is beautiful … we have six games to go and we are two points behind City … it’s a very difficult schedule for everybody … we have to go through the pain tonight, and tomorrow get up and come with the same attitude that we came with here and hopefully beat Wolves.”
A very cheery Harry Kane speaks to TNT. “Unbelievable win … it’s been a tight season for us, we’ve had to fight and grind … today was that … we knew we could make the difference with our fans … it was what we expected, a tough game, a tight game … great goal from Josh to make the difference, then it was about defending … we can enjoy this one … the first half was cagy … we upped the tempo … these games are tough and we have to find our way through them … the expectation is to try to win the Champions League … maybe there was some tempo missing in the Bundesliga … that can’t happen next season … it’s going to be a tough game in the semi-final, whoever we play.”
Post-match postbag o’pain. “To go from exiting Europa’s last eight to Champions League last eight in one year is progress. It won’t feel like it today for Arsenal fans, but that’s the reality. Presumably, we’re all in for City to win in ET for the extra fixtures for some mis-step in the League” – Pete Mumola
“There have been so many times since the Invincible season where I fooled myself into thinking that Arsenal had a good team when they didn’t. It’s strange now to suddenly have a team that’s actually okay after all these years of suffering. But what does that good team get me? Nothing but more suffering. Bring back Coquelin, bring back Alex Song, I want to see Chamakh and Frimpong on the field for us in red and white. I don’t need a good team, I need the pain of underperformance to stop” – Eagle Brosi
“The Arse losing is complicating the coefficient - that’s gotta be a kick in the teeth for Spurs” – Richard
“Well, it wasn’t Zinchenko’s fault” – Charles Antaki
Mikel Arteta looks utterly drained and very emotional. He embraces his captain and, biting his lip a little, applauds the travelling fans. In the meantime, Bayern cavort: they were the better side tonight and deserved to go through. They’ll face either Real Madrid or Manchester City in the semi-final; that one’s gone to extra time, and Barry Glendenning has minute-by-minute news of that. Arsenal meanwhile can concentrate on winning their first Premier League since 2004. Wolves away on Saturday suddenly looks make or break. It’s not been a good week for Arsenal, but small mercies for their fans: at least Harry Kane didn’t score the winner tonight. That doesn’t help much, does it.
FULL TIME: Bayern Munich 1-0 Arsenal (agg 3-2)
… it’s cleared by Bayern. The whistle goes, and Arsenal drop to their knees as one. Their dream of a first Champions League is over for another year. Bayern go through to the last four!
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90 min +5: Saka takes the free kick quickly! He rolls it down the channel for White, whose shot is blocked and deflected out for a corner. It’s now or never for Arsenal. Saka takes, and …
90 min +4: A throw-in for Arsenal, deep in Bayern’s half. Gabriel flings it in, but can’t get it past the first man. Bayern clear their lines again. But Saka is skittled by Kim, just to the right of the D. One last chance?
90 min +3: As Bayern take their sweet time over the restart, Jesus is booked for offering the referee his hot take on the situation.
90 min +2: Kimmich is booked for a block on Havertz. The free kick’s sent wide to Trossard, who immediately runs into trouble and fouls Kimmich. What a waste. That had to go into the box, one way or another.
90 min +1: A stramash in the Bayern six-yard box as a ball comes in from the left. Saka and Havertz try to connect and prod home. Upamecano eventually hacks clear, but the flag goes up for offside.
90 min: Laimer drives down the left and drifts infield. He feeds Kane, who shuttles it on further to Musiala. A touch and he’s in the box. Musiala opens his body, only to scuff his shot straight at Raya. Arsenal breathe again … for four extra minutes at least.
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89 min: Upamecano comes on for Sane, with a view to shoring things up for Bayern.
88 min: Odegaard dances into the Bayern box from the right. He shoots low and hard towards the bottom right. The ball clips off Dier’s studs, then Neuer’s fingers, and out for a … goal kick?!? Odegaard is a picture of incensed disbelief, and no wonder. A dreadful decision, and Arsenal, so dangerous at set pieces, are denied a chance to test Bayern in search of the equaliser they so desperately need.
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87 min: Odegaard sends the free kick into the box. Gabriel gets overly excited while competing for it, and there goes that chance. Bayern counter, Musiala scampering down the left. He looks for Sane in the middle, but Raya reads his intention and intercepts.
86 min: Musiala clips Jesus out on the left. Another chance to load the Bayern box. Before Odegaard can take the free kick, there’s one last roll of the Arsenal dice as Tomiyasu is replaced by Nketiah.
84 min: White is booked for a late, cynical clip on Guerreiro.
83 min: Musiala is released down the left by Guerreiro’s graceful flick. He cuts infield, and he’s got options either side, so it’s disappointing for Bayern when he hoicks the ball straight at Saliba, thus ending the attack.
82 min: Arsenal have been better since conceding, though. This isn’t over yet, as that thrust from Rice and Jesus demonstrated.
80 min: Rice gallops down the right and rolls a ball infield for Jesus, who enters the Bayern box clear and alone, albeit facing a tight-ish angle. He suffers a huge rush of blood, and slices a wild shot horribly high and wide right. The flag then goes up for offside, but replays suggest it was tight. Had he scored, the VAR chappie would have had to get the old rulers out. A big chance spurned.
79 min: Kim, not yet up to speed, skittles Saka 35 yards from goal. Arsenal line up on the edge of the Bayern box. Odegaard swings it in to the far post, but it’s always too far ahead of Tomiyasu and Trossard, and Neuer calmly ushers it out of play as it sails wide left.
77 min: Musiala dribbles in dangerously from the left flank. He drops a shoulder. He drops it again. He eventually shoots. Deflected. Corner from the right. Kimmich sends it in, but Jesus heads clear. The tension is palpable, and as a result, the play is not of the highest quality.
76 min: Mazraoui is replaced by Kim.
75 min: Rice takes this one. The whistle immediately goes for a push on Neuer. The pressure off Bayern.
74 min: White bustles down the right and wins Arsenal their first corner of the game. Saka to take. He curls long. Neuer rises highest in a very crowded six-yard box and tips out for another corner on the other side.
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72 min: Sane cuts in from the right and shoots from a tight angle. Gabriel blocks, then Saliba slices a rather panicked defensive intervention over his own crossbar. Nothing comes of the resulting corner, but Arsenal suddenly look uncharacteristically shaky at the back.
70 min: Some equilibrium-regaining possession for Arsenal. Baby steps, as they attempt to put a stop to the increasing Bayern gallop, and work their way back into the match. They’ve not forced Neuer into any sort of meaningful work since the break.
68 min: A member of Bayern’s backroom staff is booked for excessive flapping of the neck. Meanwhile Arsenal make a double change, replacing Jorginho and the ineffective Martinelli with Jesus and Trossard.
66 min: Nearly a second for Bayern as Guerreiro crosses low from the right. Kane dummies for Sane, who leans back and skies a dreadful shot miles over the bar. He should have done much better. That was a fine move.
65 min: That was a stunning header. Questions maybe of White, who couldn’t close down Guerreiro in time, and Martinelli, who didn’t track the runner. But from a Bayern point of view, that was a fine goal, and reward for Bayern being the better team in this second half.
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GOAL! Bayern Munich 1-0 Arsenal (Kimmich 63); agg 3-2
Bayern take the lead with a bullet header! Sane crosses from the right. Raya flaps it away. Guerreiro, just outside the box on the left, takes a touch before picking out the in-rushing Kimmich, who absolutely batters a header past Raya and into the top left. That’s some finish.
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62 min: Kimmich hits the corner long from the left. Too long. It’s not that far from creeping into the top right, but it sails over and Raya would have had it covered anyway.
61 min: Musiala strips Rice and heads off down the right. He rolls infield for Goretzka, who shoots from distance. Blocked. The ball balloons over the bar, and it’s another corner for Bayern, their seventh of the evening. Arsenal have yet to force one themselves.
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59 min: Arsenal pump it long. Too long. Havertz tries to keep the ball in play with a telescopic leg, but it’s a goal kick. This is all pretty scrappy, to be honest.
57 min: Guerreiro slips a pass in from the left, looking for Kane. It’s behind his man, but nearly bears fruit anyway, because Tomiyasu plays a backpass that wrong-foots Raya and only just rolls wide left. A couple of feet infield, and that ball was rolling into an unguarded net. So close to a farcical opener. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
56 min: Martinelli drives down the left and finds Havertz in the middle. Havertz hesitates before shooting, allowing Dier to close down and clear. That was a decent half-chance. Odegaard tries again down the same channel but is crowded out.
55 min: Laimer is turned by Odegaard, so he wraps his arm around his opponent’s waist and brings him down. A clear yellow card. Laimer and Kane have the audacity to question the decision, but they’re just trying it on.
53 min: Saka dribbles down the right. He wants a corner off Mazraoui, but replays show the ball clearly came off him last. Saka’s cutting a frustrated figure so far this evening.
52 min: Bayern think they should have been given the ball back at the restart. They weren’t. The fans seem more piqued than the players, to be fair. Anyway, nothing comes of the phase of play that immediately follows, so it’s all moot now.
51 min: Tomiyasu’s contact lens is back in. Or maybe it’s a new one. Either way, you get the gist. We play on.
50 min: Tomiyasu is down receiving treatment. His contact lens has popped out. On comes the physio to sort.
49 min: Some head tennis in the Arsenal box. Eventually the ball’s cleared long. Martinelli hopes to latch onto the loose ball, but Neuer races 40 yards out and heads it away from both the Arsenal man and danger. A fairly hysterical start to the second half.
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48 min: Nothing comes of the corner. Martinelli attempts to launch a counter down the left but is dispossessed by Mazraoui, who he then fouls. Free kick, and a chance for Bayern to load the Arsenal box.
47 min: Kimmich floats a cross in from the right. Goretzka flicks a header onto the left-hand post. Guerreiro, on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, latches onto the rebound and creams a shot goalwards. White deflects that onto the same post, and out for a corner.
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Arsenal get the second half underway. No changes, though Sane, who is carrying a groin strain, spent most of the half-time period out on the pitch, keeping himself warmed up.
Half-time entertainment. Other continent-wide knockout competitions, and Germany-England showdowns, are available.
HALF TIME: Bayern Munich 0-0 Arsenal
Not much in this. Extra time and penalties very much a possibility.
45 min: Saka attempts to scoot down the right touchline only for Mazraoui to tug him back a little. Saka stops, assuming a free kick will be awarded. A free kick is not awarded. Saka waves his arms in irritation. There will be one added minute.
43 min: Bayern and their fans are getting frustrated. Laimer impatiently clips Odegaard, and the fans holler with discontent at the referee as a foul is whistled. But what’s the guy to do? All of which will be music to Mikel Arteta’s ears.
41 min: Arsenal’s press is causing Bayern lots of problems. The hosts unable to keep hold of the ball. Arsenal probing a lot. A period of intense pressure ends when White juggles the ball on the right-hand edge of the D before leaning back and lifting a poor shot over the bar.
39 min: Odegaard is good to continue. Rice floats the free kick in from the left. Havertz wins a header, but can only cushion the ball into Neuer’s arms.
38 min: Rice steals the ball off Dier, causing Bayern to panic as one. Goretzka skittles Martinelli out on the left. Free kick coming up. But before that, Odegaard goes down clutching his knee. A wee pause.
36 min: Arsenal deal with the corner, then Saka takes a ball flush in the face. Arsenal gather en masse on the touchline for drinks as Saka is repaired. Then Bayern attempt to catch them out by restarting the game quickly, with everyone out of position, but the referee isn’t having a bar of it. Bayern are incensed, but their complaints seem more performative than serious. They can’t have expected to get away with that.
34 min: A little bit of space for Musiala down the right. He reaches the byline and prepares to cross, only to be denied by the telescopic leg of Jorginho. Corner coming up.
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33 min: Given the last couple of minutes, Bayern are happy to take a little sting from the game with some sterile possession. “One thing I find interesting about Bayern Munich is that unlike most giant clubs, their home kit isn’t set in stone. Liverpool are red, Real Madrid are white, Juventus play in black and white stripes, and so on. Bayern have had red home kits, white home kits, blue and red, red and white, and even a mostly blue one.” Kári Tulinius there, with his observations on the Crystal Palace of the Bundesliga.
31 min: Now it’s Arsenal’s turn to pile on a little pressure. Odegaard rolls a deliciously inviting pass in from the right. Martinelli, rushing into the box, meets it first time … but only slams a powerful sidefoot straight at a grateful Neuer.
30 min: More dramatic action involving Neuer, as he smothers at Havertz’s feet, the Arsenal man romping into the box from the right. Eventually the flag goes up for offside, but the keeper wasn’t to know that; it was great goalkeeping.
29 min: Odegaard has a crack from distance. He doesn’t quite catch his shot, but it takes a little deflection as it flies towards the top left. Neuer adjusts his feet, and slips. Is that shot going in?! Nope, Neuer sticks up a strong arm, then scrambles back to his feet and smothers the loose ball.
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28 min: Havertz cushions a header down for Odegaard on the edge of the Bayern box. Odegaard prepares to shoot, only for Goretzka to smoothly swan across and take the ball off his toe. Once again Arsenal launch a second phase of attack, and White makes ground down the right. His cross is no good though.
26 min: Sane twists Tomiyasu’s blood a little. He lays off to Kimmich, who crosses deep. Kane contests for the ball but Saliba wins the duel. Bayern have definitely taken it up a notch.
24 min: Musiala shoots from distance. Raya parries. Kimmich latches onto the rebound and crosses from the right, hoping to find Kane. Gabriel deals with the situation. Bayern suddenly cranking up the heat at bit.
23 min: Bayern come close to opening the scoring. Laimer bursts down the inside-left channel and feeds Mazraoui on the overlap. Mazraoui shoots from a tight angle. It’s heading in, but Raya manages to tip around the right-hand post. Nothing comes of the corner. Arsenal were opened up on the counter there.
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21 min: Martinelli has a look down the left. There’s nowhere to go, so he cuts back for Rice, who momentarily has an opportunity to blast the ball goalwards. He wants to open his body up and aim for the top right, though, and the wait allows Bayern to surround him. Arsenal come again, though, Martinelli nearly dribbling his way through a crowded box, directly down the middle. He can’t complete the task and Neuer claims the ball. A couple of promising moments for Arsenal.
19 min: Jorginho clatters into the back of Musiala, and receives what looks like a one-more-and-you’re-booked talking-to from the referee.
17 min: Nothing comes of the set piece, but that build-up may worry Arsenal, especially as a couple of minutes earlier, Sane doubled back and sent Tomiyasu sliding away in the wrong direction on the seat of his breeches. It’s not been a banner start for the Arsenal left-back.
16 min: Musiala sprays a diagonal pass towards Sane on the right wing. Tomiyasu is all over the shop, allowing the ball to sail over his head. Sane chests down, romps away from his marker, enters the Arsenal box, and wins a corner.
14 min: Arsenal are beginning to establish a modicum of control here. Or perhaps Bayern are happy to sit back and let them have it, because everything’s currently happening in the middle of the park. No real danger.
12 min: Odegaard battles down the inside-left channel and very nearly releases Saka with a cute pass into the box, but Dier and Kimmich close the door just in time.
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10 min: Bayern stroke the ball around patiently. Suddenly Dier wedges a pass down the right to release Goretzka … but the flag goes up for offside. Some old-school Arsenal defensive organisation there.
8 min: Arsenal show in attack for the first time, Martinelli nearly breaking clear down the left, only to be dispossessed by the covering Sane. But then Arsenal come again, and it’s Martinelli once more, slipped into a pocket of space outside the box by Havertz. Martinelli takes a touch to the right and aims a curler towards the top right. That’s wide too. Neuer had it covered.
6 min: Goretzka finds Kane on the edge of the Arsenal D. Kane spins and aims for the top right without fuss or faff. Wide again. The former Spurs striker looks in a determined frame of mind, like that’s breaking news.
5 min: That early attack has got the Bayern fans hollering again. So much for Arsenal’s opening stadium-shushing gambit, then.
3 min: Sane probes down the right. He makes it into the box and attempts to work space to shoot, but then pings Kimmich in on the overlap. Kimmich dinks across to Kane, who tries to steer a shot into the bottom right. The ball bobbles wide. That was a dangerous move.
2 min: Arsenal pass it this way and that across their back line, as pyro smoke wafts across the pitch. After a while, the Bayern fans lose patience and start whistling loud and hard. A confident start by the visitors, perhaps of a mind to show they’ll not be intimidated.
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Bayern get the ball rolling. A wonderful four-steins-in atmosphere at the spiritual home of the bierkeller. “No Zinchenko, then,” notes Charles Antaki. “Fair enough; you’ll not find any Arsenal fans who’d disagree, spooked by his all-too frequent defensive misadventures. Tomiyasu the safer option. So this gives us an index for how things go: if Arteta has to bring him on, then things will not be going well. Not at all well.”
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The teams are out! Bayern are in their current home configuration of predominantly white with red trim. Arsenal are in third-choice green, a very fetching early-80s pastiche sure to give observers of a certain age Proustian rushes of Stewart Robson, Peter Nicholas and Brian Talbot. We’ll be off once Uefa have desecrated the work of George Frideric Handel. Speaking of high culture, here’s Peter Oh: “Bayern have had an up-and-down season fraught with difficulties. If they go out today due to a mixup between their centre backs, I expect their fans to rage, rage against the Dier and de Ligt.”
Mikel Arteta’s turn to chat with TNT. “We should embrace the opportunity we have ahead of us … to show the character and the quality we have … to earn the right to win the game … there is a lot of will to play the game … to prove we are capable of going to a semi-final … it is important to manage your emotions … we are going to try to do that very consistently.”
Bayern’s outgoing coach Thomas Tuchel tells it as he sees it on TNT Sports. “We cannot do it without the fans … if there is any advantage at playing at home we have to make it … we have to do the first step and then the crowd needs to kick in, I hope they will … the team’s approach [to the Champions League, as opposed to the Bundesliga] is more serious, they play with more hunger … we play with more discipline … if you look at it from the other side, this is something we are very self-critical about, but it’s obvious … we have very good results and team effort throughout the competition … we hope we go to the next step because we need to … we have lost a lot of speed compared to last week … we have lost three of our fastest players that can hurt any opponent … it is a big loss but we have to deal with it … we have new guys and will try to make it up as a team … it’s good to have experience and winners in our squad who did it already … I hope they step up and take responsibility.”
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Arsenal make one change to their starting XI from the first leg. Takehiro Tomiyasu comes in for Jakub Kiwior, who drops to the bench.
Bayern Munich make two changes. Alphonso Davies is suspended, while Serge Gnabry has a hamstring problem, so Noussair Mazraoui and Raphaël Guerreiro step up to the plate. Kingsley Coman, who featured as a second-half sub last week, is also absent injured with an adductor issue.
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The teams
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Kimmich, de Ligt, Dier, Mazraoui, Goretzka, Laimer, Sane, Musiala, Guerreiro, Kane.
Subs: Upamecano, Kim, Choupo-Moting, Zaragoza, Peretz, Muller, Ulreich, Tel, Pavlovic.
Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu, Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice, Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.
Subs: Ramsdale, Partey, Gabriel Jesus, Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Kiwior, Trossard, Vieira, Nelson, Elneny, Hein, Zinchenko.
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Holland).
Preamble
Arsenal are 90 minutes away – or maybe 90 minutes plus extra time, then possibly a penalty competition – from their first Champions League semi-final since 2009. But good luck predicting how this match is going to go. Arsenal will take a lot of heart from their impressive start and staunch powers of recovery during last week’s 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich at the Emirates; they way they ceded early momentum in that see-saw game will worry them as well. They’re coming off the back of a concerning league defeat at home to Aston Villa; Bayern won’t be in the best frame of mind either having relinquished their decade-long grip on the Bundesliga last weekend. Arsenal are hopeful that Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard will both be fit to start, while Bayern are without Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman and Alphonso Davies; on the other hand, Harry Kane, Harry Kane and Harry Kane. So it’s up in the air. The Gunners went into this tie as favourites, but having not made the most of their home advantage in the first leg, everything’s poised perfectly for a wonderful evening’s entertainment in Munich. The partial may demur but everyone else can kick back with the popcorn, because this could be great fun. Kick-off at the Allianz Arena is at 8pm BST, 9pm local. It’s on!
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