Should Arsenal have nicked a win at the death?
Bukayo Saka was denied a late penalty after Arsenal had fought back with a Leandro Trossard goal.
The England international opened the scoring, allowing the ball to roll across him after a lovely pass from Ben White, but Bayern drew level thanks to Serge Gnabry and then went ahead through a Harry Kane penalty.
Saka appealed for a spot kick seconds before the final whistle after apparent contact with Manuel Neuer, but referee Glenn Nyberg did not even consult VAR.
Earlier, Bayern thought they should have had their own penalty when Gabriel picked the ball up in the box. The whistle had been blown for a goal kick when goalkeeper David Raya passed the ball to the central defender, who picked it up, placed it back down and passed it back as play continued.
Thomas Tuchel said after the game that Nyberg told his players that he had seen the incident in question but deemed it “a kid’s mistake” and he “will not give a penalty” for it in a game of this magnitude.
So, with this tie perfectly poised ahead of next week’s second leg in Bavaria, allow The Athletic to dissect the key talking points…
Did Trossard’s goal deliver Arsenal’s ‘magic moment’?
“You are going to have magic moments,” said the Arsenal manager ahead of facing Bayern. “At a certain stage, at a certain moment, in the competition, in the tie, something exceptional has to happen.
“We are now creating a new history and that is why those moments that we had in the group stages, for qualifying first and now what we did with Porto, is really important as it generates belief, a sense of positivity in the team that when the moment comes, we can overcome it and go through.”
That is why his number one priority going into the run-in was to have a fully fit squad. When he looked to the bench at 2-1 down, he saw players he could trust in Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus.
Jesus’ skill and flair brought a chaos that unsettled Bayern’s back line before he laid the ball into Trossard’s path to equalise. This was 10 minutes after the pair had come on as a double substitution, providing much different skill sets to Gabriel Martinelli and Jorginho, who they replaced.
Trossard has proven his worth consistently in this regard since joining Arsenal last January. This season he has been their most-used substitute, coming on 16 times in the league. Of his 13 goals in all competitions this term, six have now come off the bench.
(Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
Jesus also knew the importance he could have whether he started in his preferred position or not ahead of the game.
“I don’t want to come here and say Gabi doesn’t care about playing as a winger when his position normally is a 9,” he said. “In this part of the season, you don’t complain. I never complain. When I get the chance, I will show the manager and everyone else why I have to play.
“This part of the season, I’ll put my ego aside and do what the manager wants to help the team. It’s not easy, not just for me but for Eddie (Nketiah) as well. Kai (Havertz) is having amazing games and scoring. That’s the price you pay if you want to be in a big club.”
Art de Roche
Why did Arsenal’s defence look very… ‘un-Arsenal’?
Arsenal did not perform badly, but the two first-half goals they conceded displayed how undermining uncertainty can be for a back line.
They have had total control of games in the Premier League since returning from the winter break, with clarity in most of their actions. The mistakes that led to Serge Gnabry’s equaliser and Harry Kane’s penalty were both results of overthought and inaction — traits that have not cost Arsenal since the first half of the season.
The amalgamation of David Raya failing to take control of Bayern’s clearance, Gabriel’s indecision and Jakub Kiwior not being alert enough resulted in Gnabry scoring. Kiwior allowing Sane to gallop after being skipped past by the winger also put his team-mates at risk, ending in William Saliba giving away the penalty and then Raya diving as Kane gave him the eyes and slotted it away.
Kiwior starting did not seem like too big an issue pre-match, but those moments warranted a half-time substitution. Oleksandr Zinchenko replacing him was a surprise given Takehiro Tomiyasu’s attributes lend themselves to defending quick wingers who cut inside better, but Zinchenko was also sent on to deliver his manager’s instructions, delivering a passionate team talk before the restart.
Arteta and Zinchenko (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
The most frustrating thing for Arteta will be that these moments came after Arsenal had already gone 1-0 up. That should have been a moment to turn the screw rather than relapse.
Art de Roche
Bayern thrived on the counter-attack. Why don’t they do that in the Bundesliga?
If there has been one consistent Bayern Munich problem this season, it has been issues against transition.
When they lose possession, or if their opponent can move upfield at any speed, they have regularly been unable to cover breaking players or fill the developing space. You can trace that problem all the way back to the German Super Cup.
How interesting then to see them profit in the reverse: to face a team having possession in the quantities they usually enjoyed, be forced to simplify their football, and actually look better for it.
Gnabry celebrates his equaliser (Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images)
It makes sense. Arsenal’s territorial dominance effectively simplified Bayern’s game plan, forcing them to sit deep and grab what they could on quick raids. In Leroy Sane, Jamal Musiala and Serge Gnabry (with Kingsley Coman coming off the bench), Thomas Tuchel possessed the vertical threats to make that work, and — in Harry Kane — had a counter-punching specialist to pivot those pieces around.
Clearly, Arsenal were charitable, but this was still a side of Bayern they are unable to show in the Bundesliga. They have averaged over 60 per cent of the ball this year. Even in that harrowing defeat in Leverkusen in February, they had 62 per cent. Most often, though, having to be proactive has exposed their flaws.
This was a rare opportunity to do something different. Two goals, one from a high turnover and the other from a long break which ended with the Saliba trip, represented an opportunity taken, too. And it might have been worse had Sane not wasted his first-half one-on-one.
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor
Arsenal returning to the Champions League has come with a need to prove themselves. Many of their players had not played consistently at this level before this season — and one of those players was Bukayo Saka.
The winger has been a consistent performer since he broke through at age 18 but still needed to announce himself among Europe’s elite. Regardless of the scoreline against Bayern Munich, he has done that with more direct goal involvements than any other Arsenal player in the Champions League this season (eight).
Saka scores Arsenal’s opener against Bayern (Vincent Mignott/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
His opener, a lovely curled effort around Eric Dier into the far corner, was his fourth goal in the competition this season. He also has four assists in the Champions League in 2023-24. The last Arsenal player to record as many goal involvements in the Champions League was Alexis Sanchez in 2015-16 (three goals and five assists).
Although he did not score or assist in Arsenal’s round-of-16 tie win over Porto, Saka will continue to be key in their quarter-final second leg against Bayern.
Art de Roche
Do Bayern only have themselves to blame at the back?
Whatever threat Bayern posed going forward, it always seemed likely that — eventually — Arsenal would find the gaps in their defence that Thomas Tuchel has struggled to fill all season. The two goals his team conceded on Tuesday night had no place in a Champions League quarter-final and described a defence without any protection from in front, or any real cohesion or confidence at its heart.
When Eric Dier joined the club in January, it was reasonable to ask why a squad with Kim Min-jae, Matthijs De Ligt and Dayot Upamecano needed a centre-back from the Tottenham fringes. But that they did tells us so much. Bayern needed communication and organisation. Their back six was so often chaotic in the absence of a communicator and that’s not only why Dier was signed, but also why he continues to start every game.
You rarely hear it said that defenders are playing as individuals — that’s a criticism levelled at attacking players — but if ever that was true of a team, then it is of this Bayern Munich.
They do little collectively. There’s no trust in their surrounding system. As a result, even talented players such as De Ligt are reduced to punchlines through their individual errors — see him being rag-dolled for the second Arsenal goal — and the goals keep going in.
This is a team that conceded three times to Heidenheim on Saturday, the Bundesliga’s pauper club, and at the Emirates there was no mystery as to how that happened.
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor
What did Mikel Arteta say?
Arsenal head coach Arteta, speaking on TNT Sports post-match, said: “We started really well, we were dominant, didn’t concede anything. We scored a really good goal.
“After that is the moment of the game when Ben (White) is in front of (Manuel) Neuer and if it was 2-0 it would have been a very different game… in the Champions League you give something, they will take it. You get punished. That is part of football as well.
“The things we can control is do the simple things better.”
Discussing the late penalty shout, he added: “They said they checked it and decided it was not a penalty.
“I have a lot of belief we can go there (to Germany) and beat them. We have to prepare really well.”
What did Thomas Tuchel say?
Thomas Tuchel, speaking to Amazon after the match, said: “We could have won it at the end, we had the huge chance with Kingsley (Coman hitting the post). It was a tough night against a very good opponent. The fans were really behind Arsenal, so the result is OK.
“We knew we had to play better for 90 minutes than we did in (our defeat last time out at) Heidenheim, that was clear. It was necessary here. It was difficult. We’ve got a draw so the situation is clear, the winner moves on.
“We’re playing at home (next), we need this kind of atmosphere from the fans and we need the same devotion, passion and quality as we had tonight — and we’ll get through.”
When’s the return leg?
Wednesday, April 17 at 8pm UK, 3pm ET.
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(Top photo: Ian Kington/IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images)
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