Photo: Robben being fouled (AP)
Bayern Munich was in ‘Kroos’ control on Wednesday as they won their first leg Champions League round of 16 tie away to Arsenal. Bayern showed a glimpse of what was to come when in only the 2nd minute of play Toni Kroos sent a 25 yard effort towards the top corner, Szczesny however made a fine fingertip save to deny him the opening goal and Arsenal went on to pin back their more illustrious opponents in front of their home crowd.
Photo: Robben being fouled (AP)
Bayern Munich was in ‘Kroos’ control on Wednesday as they won their first leg Champions League round of 16 tie away to Arsenal. Bayern showed a glimpse of what was to come when in only the 2nd minute of play Toni Kroos sent a 25 yard effort towards the top corner, Szczesny however made a fine fingertip save to deny him the opening goal and Arsenal went on to pin back their more illustrious opponents in front of their home crowd.
Wenger’s decision to start Yaya Sanogo ahead of Giroud appeared to be paying off as his pace and the resurgence of winger Alex Oxdale-Chamberlain unsettled Europe’s tightest defense in the opening stages. Mauel Neuer prevented Arsenal from going ahead when he produced an excellent reaction save following Sanogo’s shot from a Jack Wilshire pass.
Arsenal were then gifted a golden opportunity when Wilshere released Ozil only for Jerome Boateng, who had a torrid start to the game, to bring him down in the penalty area. However the German international was denied by his teammate and Bayern goalkeeper when his tame effort was pushed away much to the disappointment of the Arsenal fateful.
After the sham of a penalty Arsenal’s momentum slowed but Neuer had to rush out of goal in the 24th minute to deny Oxdale-Chamberlain when the winger got the better of Alaba on the end of Sanago’s pass. Arsenal left back Kieran Gibbs left the field injured after a half hour and his replacement in Nacho Monreal seemed to have left his wits on the bench as Robben raced past him to collect a pass from Kroos and win a penalty and a red card for Arsenal keeper Szczesny after he charges out and brought him down.
Alaba stepped up and sent replacement goalkeeper Lukasz-Fabianski the wrong way, only to see the ball hit the goalpost leaving the scores level at 0-0. The half ended with Arsenal taking 7 shots to Bayern’s 9 and making 195 less passes than their German counterparts, all in all a good half versus arguably the world’s best team at the moment.
As it was in the Manchester City vs. Barcelona on Tuesday, 10 man Arsenal were never going to escape unscathed and Bayern came out all guns blazing in the second half. Thiago Alcantara narrowly failed to connect a pass and Toni Kroos drilled a low shot at Fabianski.
Then it was Arsenal’s turn as Koscielny stabbed goal wards from Ozil’s 51st minute free kick followed by a Toni Kroos curler into the top corner three minutes later to give the Bavarians a deserved lead. Fabianski then saved twice from Robben and Muller almost got a decisive touch from Rafinha in the 66th minute.
Like a shark that smells blood in the water Bayern were relentless in their attacks and 2 minutes from time they got their reward when Muller stooped to head in the 2nd goal of the match. One cannot now fault Arsenal fans if they now feel as if their European adventures are all but over this season as Bayern had more shots, crosses, dribbles, corners, ball recoveries etc and their star man in Ozil went missing for large parts of the game. With a second leg tie away in Germany to come what is to be expected in front of the Bayern Munich faithful?
Interesting STATS from this game:
•Sczesney’s red card was Arsenal’s 100th under Arsene Wenger
•Toni Kroos’ goal in the 54th minute was Bayern’s 100th in all competitions this season.
•City lost 2 -0 at home, so did Arsenal.
•Messi scored in the 54th minute, so did Toni Kroos
•Alves scored in the 66th minute so did Muller.
•Ozil, Sanogo and Oxdale-Chamberlain combined to go 0/7 dribbles
•Sanogo led all players with 9 headers won
•Toni Kroos attempted 152 passes, the entire Arsenal team attempted 222
The other Champions league match to be played on the day saw AC Milan left counting the ‘Costa’ missed chances at the San Siro as their efforts were curtailed by a brilliant display from on loan Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois. Milan created a number of opportunities but a lack of accuracy in front of goal combined with a superb display from Curtois was to prove their undoing.
The Belgian keeper turned Kaka’s effort onto the crossbar in the 15th minute and three minutes later made an outstanding save to deny Poli’s close-range header onto the post. Kaka went close again after a back heeled pass from Balotelli, but his shot went curling over the bar. Milan had the better first half and ended the half with Balotelli putting a long range effort wide of the goal.
Simeone must have given a really inspiring half tome speech, because his side came out for the second half with renewed energy despite still not being able to find any clear cut chances at goal.
With seven minutes to play it was Diego Costa who rose to head home what was to be the lone goal of the game and a crucial away win for Atletico Madrid. Adil Rami went close to getting a draw for Milan with a long range effort which flew wide of goal. Milan now head into the second leg to be played in Spain with a task that must now feel like climbing up a hill.
Writer: Lynford Harris
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