What: Champions League Round of 16 – Second Leg
Who: Bayern Munich (2) vs Arsenal (0) – (First Leg scores in brackets)
When: Tuesday 11th March, 2014, 19:45 UK Time
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany
Simply The Best?
Bayern Munich host Arsenal on Tuesday evening with one eye on the last eight of the Champions League. Pep Guardiola’s side picked up a massive first leg win in England and with a 2-0 advantage are the big favourites to advance.
That win was one amongst a series of impressive performances this season for Guardiola’s men. Winning the Bundesliga is a mere formality at this point while there is growing evidence that a second consecutive treble could be on the cards.
Bayern Munich’s 6-1 defeat of Wolfsburg at the weekend was their 49th match without defeat on the domestic front. What could give Arsenal a glimmer of hope was that Bayern Munich looked a little off the pace for the first hour of their encounter against Wolfsburg before exploding with five goals in seventeen minutes.
Guardiola agreed that his side didn’t fire on all cylinders until the end: “We weren’t as dominant as in recent matches. Wolfsburg were superbly organised and very aggressive. We had a problem with that in the first half and they were better than us for the first 15 minutes after half-time. But at the end of the day it was us who scored the goals”, the Spaniard said.
Arsenal Gunning For Comeback
After a morale-crushing Premier League defeat to Stoke last weekend, Arsenal needed a pick-up ahead of the return leg against Bayern Munich. Arsene Wenger’s side received just that in the form of a 4-1 FA Cup win over Everton on Saturday. It was not only the manner of the performance that will appease Arsenal supporters, but it meant that the team would return to Wembley for the first time in years.
Wenger spoke after the match on the importance of the victory specifically ahead of the Gunners’ trip to Germany. “It was important for us to win, to put us in a good mind on the psychological front”, the Arsenal manager said. “We can be inspired by our focus on the day, by our desire and go to Bayern with the same spirit. The statistics go against us when we go to Bayern, but let’s make sure that the performance goes for us. Then we have a chance.”
The odds seem to be stacked against Arsenal. Not only is the two-goal deficit ominous, but the club have been ravaged by injuries of late. This is not a side that will go down without a fight, but the general feeling is that Wenger’s bunch have a task that is just beyond them, especially against a team in such blistering form as Bayern Munich. However, a ray of light comes from last year and a 2-0 win on the same ground against the same opposition. Can lightning strike twice?
Recent form
Bayern Munich:
Hannover 0-4 Bayern Munich (23/02; Bundesliga)
Bayern Munich 5-1 Schalke (01/03; Bundesliga)
Wolfsburg 1-6 Bayern Munich (08/03; Bundesliga)
Arsenal:
Arsenal 4-1 Sunderland (22/02; Premier League)
Stoke 1-0 Arsenal (01/03; Premier League)
Arsenal 4-1 Everton (08/03; FA Cup)
Key absences
Bayern Munich: Holger Badstuber
Arsenal: Jack Wilshere; Kim Kallstrom; Aaron Ramsey; Theo Walcott; Abou Diaby; Wojciech Szczesny (suspended); Kieran Gibbs; Nacho Monreal
Players to watch
Bayern Munich – Thomas Muller: The 24-year-old has continued to thrive under the guidance of Guardiola. With two months left in the season, Muller is having his best campaign yet for Bayern Munich with a whopping 23 goals and 12 assists. The Germany international is in the form of his career and will be a key contributor for club and country in the coming weeks and months.
Arsenal – Mesut Ozil: No one at Arsenal needed Saturday’s FA Cup win over Everton more than Ozil. The former Real Madrid player has been low in confidence in recent weeks and was even subjected to jeers by Germany supporters in a midweek friendly against Chile. Against Everton however, Ozil was back to his usual self with a display that had it all including a goal and an assist. He seemed like a renewed player with his probing runs and incisive passing. If Arsenal are to come good then their creative genius must be the spark.
Match Prediction
It looks like mission impossible for the Gunners in this one. It is not only the 2-0 home defeat that seems to be against them. Though few teams have ever overcome such a deficit at this stage of the competition, it is more that Bayern Munich seem to be destined to win back-to-back Champions Leagues. The German powerhouses are steam-rolling through another remarkable season and everything suggests they will go far, if not win, every competition they are in. Arsenal will find solace in their FA Cup win at the weekend and the fact that last year they also came to the Allianz Arena with a two-goal deficit and nearly pulled off a great upset. That appears less likely this season though as Bayern Munich are improved and should finish the job at home Bayern Munich 2-1 Arsenal.
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