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MOTD- Arsenal 0-2 Bayern Munich

By on February 19, 2014

It was almost the exact same storyline as when Manchester City fell at the hands of Barcelona yesterday.  Another English giant has succumbed 2-0 to another former Champions League winner, with two more goals coming in the fifty-fourth and eighty-eighth minute from visitors in England and the home side being reduced to ten men in the first half. Yet this time is was Arsenal fans who would drive home contemplating a loss that all but means elimination from the Champions League after defeat to Bayern Munich. The only real difference between the two matches actually came as a surprise early on in Arsenal’s loss at the Emirates as the home side were odds off expected to take the lead, only for Mesut Ozil to have his poor penalty saved by Manuel Neuer. If Ozil had scored there might have been a totally different storyline, but because of the miss Bayern slowly came to possess Arsenal out of the match.

The visitors completed 863 passes, compared to the minuscule 223 played by Arsenal. Bayern also held an incredible 79% possession, a statistic even Barcelona have trouble matching against the worst La Liga sides. Somehow, Bayern that over Arsenal, although the odds of that happening looked from zero to none as Arsenal burst out of the starting gate immediately after the match kicked off. There was some worry for Arsene Wenger when Wojciech Szczesny was forced to produce a fantastic save to stop Kroos’ twenty-five yard screamer from breaking the top left corner of the net only two minutes in, but that fear would be quickly dissolved.

Yaya Sanogo nearly gave The Gunners an early lead when Neuer the forward half-volleyed a low side-footed shot on goal, only for Neuer to use his incredible reactions to adjust his position in mid-air and make the top to his left. However, Arsenal’s best chance of the match came in the seventh minute when Ozil burst in down the left side of the box before being brought down the the trailing leg of Jerome Boateng as he sent the defender heading in the direction of Antarctica with a Cruyff-turn. Ozil stepped up to take the spot-kick, knowing he had already missed Arsenal’s only previous penalty in this seasons Champions League, and once again disappointed his side with an easy-to-save penalty straight down the middle, which Neuer punched away.

For the first ten minutes, Arsenal were unbelievable.” – Pep Guardiola

The penalty miss completely sucked the life out of Arsenal, allowing Bayern to pass, pass, pass, pass, and pass some more. Basically, Pep Guardiola’s side were in control. Finally, their dominance seemed to have paid off as they themselves won a penalty in the thirty-seven as Arjen Robben was sent in on goal via a cute chip pass from Kroos. Szczesny came out to meet the winger, but came in late and ended up just going right through Robben’s leg. It was obviously a penalty, although it was a tiny bit of a surprise when Szczesny was handed straight red. It was also a surprise when David Alaba, like Ozil, missed the penalty, sending a low effort out off the post. Unlike Ozil’s miss, it didn’t seem to effect his side.

In fact, Bayern came out in the second half and only took eight minutes to take the lead. Philip Lahm zipped down the left before squaring it to Kroos on the edge of the area, where the Manchester United target sweetly struck a curling first time effort right into the top left corner, leaving Lukasz Fabianski with no chance of stopping it.

The visitors continued to push forward, and came quite close to doubling their lead as Robben sliced Kroos’ lobbed ball towards the bottom corner, where Fabianski managed to claw it away. Eventually, after more passing, moving, and dominating, Bayern did. Lahm chipped a wonderful little pass over the Arsenal defense to Thomas Muller, who crouched down and smacked a header past Fabianski into the corner of the net to put the match, possibly even the tie, to bed in the eighty-eighth minute. Kroos then created a late chance to totally put the while thing to bed, yet his stunning twenty-five yard low side-footer came back out off the post. That left one little chance for Arsenal to sneak in a surprise comeback in the second leg, but if Bayern play the way they did today in Munich Wenger’s side’s Champions League run is undoubtedly over.
Man of the Match: Toni Kroos

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.