Last night Arsenal lost 1-3 to Bayern Munich at the Emirates Stadium in the 1st leg of the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League.
Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller and Mario Mandzukic put Arsenal under pressure with 3 away goals for Bayern Munich. Bayern completely outplayed Arsenal leaving Aresnal with a mountain to climb if they want to qualify for the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.
Bayern Munich picked up from where they had left off last game to continue to their unbeaten streak to 19 in all competitions. These performances question the need of a new manager in the summer.
The Emirates crowd was put to silence as early as the 7th minute when Muller’s cross from the right wasn’t dealt with by Kroos who smashed the ball into the net from about 18 yards. Just 14 minutes later, Wojciech Szczęsny made a good save from a corner on the near post.
But the ball fell straight back to Muller who tapped the ball in to double Bayern’s advantage. To make things worse for Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal supporters, Thomas Vermaelen, Bacaray Sagna and Mikel Arteta yellow carded going into halftime, all for clumsy challenges.
The Gunners did show some fight as Lukas Podolski pulled a goal back from Jack Wilshere’s corner in the 55th minute. Podolski headed the ball into Manuel Neuer’s goal.
Bayern quickly put the game to rest as substitute Arjen Robben went past Vermaelen sending Philippe Lahm through on the overlap on the right wing. Lahm produced a brilliant cross to find striker Mandzukic who looped the ball into the goal making it 1-3 in favor of the Germans.
The 3rd goal totally saddened the Gunners supporters, who started leaving as they couldn’t bear to watch their team suffer yet another loss this season. Wenger must martial his troops as they face tough opponents in the EPL with games against Tottenham Hotspur and Everton in the following weeks.
Bayern Munich leave the Emirates in a very strong position and are clear favorites to enter the next round.