GOAL runs through all of the winners and losers on a chastening night for Mikel Arteta and his young team at the Allianz Arena
Not Bayern Munich, not again, and not like this! Arsenal’s Champions League meeting with the Bavarians was meant to be different this time. This felt like the perfect opportunity for revenge over a team that had knocked them out of Europe’s top-tier tournament on four previous occasions.
After all, Bayern were struggling horribly in the Bundesliga, being embarrassed on a seemingly weekly basis. Better still, their hopes of winning any other competition were already over, meaning this was a chance to pile even more misery on former Tottenham star Harry Kane, who had moved to Bavaria summer in the hope of finally getting his hands on some silverware.
But after stumbling in the first leg of this quarter-final tie at the Emirates, Arsenal’s young and relatively inexperienced team froze at the Allianz Arena, deservedly beaten 1-0 on the night, to go out 3-2 on aggregate, after a painfully timid display.
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LOSER: Arsenal’s young forwards
The most disturbing aspect of this second leg from Arsenal’s perspective will be their almost complete lack of an attacking threat. The Gunners enjoyed plenty of possession, but they did next-to-nothing with it. Indeed, they only had one decent opening, when Martin Odegaard pulled the ball back for Gabriel Martinelli, who shot straight at Manuel Neuer.
It was an effort entirely in keeping with Martinelli’s performance all evening. He got no change out of Joshua Kimmich and then criminally failed to track his marker for the goal that decided the tie in Bayern’s favour.
Worryingly for Arteta, though, Martinelli’s fellow forwards fared little better. Rumours of Kai Havertz’s revival have been proven grossly exaggerated, while Bukayo Saka did absolutely nothing to silence those that believe he still has some way to go before he can be considered world-class.
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WINNER: Harry Kane
He may not have scored, but Kane won’t care! Make no mistake about it: this will rank as one of the sweetest victories of the England captain’s career. Arsenal fans were very much looking forward to ending the former Spurs striker’s hopes of winning a first trophy – so Kane will have enjoyed the fact that he more than played his part in Bayern progressing to the last four.
There’s still plenty of work to do, of course. Even just making the final is going to be tough, but there’s no need to look that far forward right now. On Wednesday, Kane could enjoy having got one over on his old rivals – and take a serious amount of encouragement out of the fact that after carrying Bayern for most of the season, many of his team-mates have stepped up to his level over the course of these two games.
Plenty of fans – not just those of an Arsenal persuasion – have been ridiculing Kane over the past few months, but he might just have the last laugh.
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LOSER: Mikel Arteta
Much of the narrative around this tie focused on the Champions League being Tuchel’s last chance to win a trophy before he departs this summer. And the German remains very much at risk of becoming the first Bayern boss to fail to lift at least one piece of silverware in a season since 2012.
However, it’s also worth pointing out that while Arteta certainly won’t be leaving his post anytime soon, the Spaniard and his expensively-assembled squad could end this season empty-handed, given they’ve also slipped to second in the Premier League.
He still has time to turn things around, of course, but there’s no papering over the fact that Arteta failed to coax anything like the same level of performance out of his side as Tuchel, who had long since lost the support of several key players at Bayern.
The first leg was worrying, but the paucity of the display at the Allianz Arena was embarrassing for a side being touted as potential winners. Arsenal were outclassed on the night, and Arteta was out-thought.
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LOSER: Arsenal’s title hopes
There are obviously two ways of looking at this. Maybe avoiding an inevitably draining Champions League semi-final will help Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge. The extra games could have killed them.
However, this defeat – and perhaps more importantly, the nature of it – will hit Arsenal hard. They didn’t go down fighting after all, they bowed out with a whimper – and that’s going to sting.
So, while losing might end up helping them physically, as it means fewer matches, it does absolutely nothing for their confidence and only reinforces the impression that Arsenal, just like last season, have lost momentum at precisely the wrong time..jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=3840&quality=60)
WINNER: Joshua Kimmich
There was no more deserving goalscorer than Kimmich. Bayern benefited from several excellent individual performances on the night, but none better than the one produced by their multi-talented right-back. He was the best player on the pitch from start to finish, causing constant problems with his crossing and regular forays down the flank.
As at the Emirates, Kimmich also once again coped easily with the threat posed by Martinelli – but Martinelli couldn’t cope with Kimmich. Indeed, it just felt so fitting the game – and indeed the tie – was decided by the German powering home a header after leaving Martinelli trailing in his wake.
He would obviously prefer playing in his midfield, but maybe Tuchel has got one thing right this season – maybe Kimmich is even more effective at right-back!
LOSER: The Premier League
Spurs supporters will have enjoyed watching Kane help knock Arsenal out of Europe, but this result doesn’t help their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. On the contrary, Bayern’s surprise passage past one of the Premier League’s top teams is a major boost for Germany’s hopes of getting an extra Champions League place at England’s expense.
Indeed, if Bayer Leverkusen finish the job in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final with West Ham, and Liverpool bow out as expected away to Atalanta, England will be in real danger of falling behind Germany in the UEFA country coefficient rankings.
That would be seriously bad news for Tottenham, who are presently fifth in the Premier League, three points behind Aston Villa. In that sense, it might not have been such a satisfying night for Spurs supporters after all!
