Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich

1-3, Champions League, Emirates Stadium, 2013-02-19
Podolski 55

Well... The scoreline pretty much says it all. Obviously Bayern Munich is one of the best teams in Europe and there is certainly no shame in a defeat against such an opponent, but that does not mean that it is any less disappointing. What makes the defeat worse is the fact that we were so close to making it 2-2, which would have been meant that we were truly back in the tie, but instead we conceded another goal that more or less killed the game.

We had a positive start to the first half, with Cazorla released down the right-hand side. Unfortunately his cross did not find Walcott in the box and then Walcott failed to find Podolski with a cross of his own. After those initial five minutes the game slipped from our hands and Bayern Munich had a two-goal lead within the first twenty minutes. Our defence was not at its best, we missed a clearance for the first goal and then we failed at getting the ball clear from the box after a corner for the second goal. Before the end of half we did have some chances, but they were all blocked by defenders. Mertesacker had a shot blocked when he found a pocket of space following a free-kick and then Walcott had another shot, also blocked.

In the second half we looked like a team changed (sounds familiar?) and within ten minutes we pulled a goal back! A severe mistake was made in the German defence as neither defender nor keeper went for the ball as we had a corner, and Lukas Podolski (former Bayern Munich player) could head the ball into the back of the net! As mentioned above, we got really close to finding the equaliser. With twenty minutes left Podolski had a shot cleared right in front of the goal, but the best chance we had came when Walcott's brilliant cross found Giroud in the box, but the Frenchman's powerful shot was saved by Neuer. Eventually we conceded yet another goal which killed the game, and (yet again) it came through a failure at getting the ball away from the goal. The last chance we created was a shot that Wilshere had on target, but it was saved by Neuer.

Clearly we have our work cut out for us for the return leg in Munich. It seems unlikely that we will qualify now, however, but hopefully we'll put up a good fight at least! For now, though, we need to focus on getting back on track in the league, which we hopefully will against Aston Villa on Saturday.

Injury Update:
- Gibbs still injured, and with Santos out on loan and Monreal ineligible to play for us in the Champions League, Vermaelen was moved out to the left in the defence.