Bayern Munich beat Arsenal 1-0 and advanced to the Champions League semi-finals

Bayern Munich beat Arsenal 1-0 at the Allianz Arena and, after drawing 2-2 in London, qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League, where they will face Real Madrid. On the other side of the draw, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) will decide the remaining finalist.

A chess match. This is how the studied start in Bavaria between both teams could be described. The Gunners sought to prevail in hostile territory based on ball possession, but all advances were blocked in the midfield and Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka did not have the freedom to unbalance in one-on-one situations. The home team was more vertical without having control of the ball after two deflected advances by Harry Kane in the first five minutes.

The cast led by Mikel Arteta began to lean on Martinelli’s side, which added confidence as the minutes passed, but the lack of clarity in front of Manuel Neuer’s goal contrasted with a very pragmatic Bayern. The Germans overcame the rival pressure at 22′ in an attack led by Raphael Guerreiro and concluded with a cross shot by Noussair Mazraoui, which deflected off Ben White. A few seconds later, David Raya had his first save against a complicated shot by Jamal Musiala from long distance.

Arsenal suffered the blow because they came out decisively against Neuer’s three posts. The goalkeeper saved an attempt by Martin Odegaard in two halves. The captain of the London team reappeared in his role as assistant to distance himself from Leon Goretzka and left Gabriel Martinelli in front of the goal. The Brazilian winger, who appeared in the center forward position, squandered an excellent advance with a shot into the body of the goalkeeper, who was once again the protagonist when he grabbed a header from Kai Havertz at the end of the first half. Parity was not broken and the teams went to the locker room for halftime.

* Bayern’s goal to qualify for the semi-finals

The restart of the actions left a minute for heart attack because Odegaard shot into the clouds in the first moments of the complement and the response was terrible with a double attempt at the posts of Goretzka and Guerreiro, the latter with a slight deflection off William Saliba.

The progress of the stopwatch showed a different side in Bayern Munich until the first emotion of the match arrived. At 62 minutes, Leroy Sané launched a cross handled by David Raya. The goalkeeper’s rebound was left to Raphael Guerreiro, Ben White did not pressure him and he had time to send another shot into the area connected by Joshua Kimmich on the run to make it 1-0 in Germany.

The following moments of the defensive setback showed a weak image of an Arsenal emotionally shaken because they were forced to equalize history in regulation time to avoid elimination, but had difficulty violating Manuel Neuer, who had to intervene to deflect a shot from Martin Odegaard. in closing.

The consummated defeat at the Allianz Arena highlights the complication of an adverse terrain for the English entity, since it has only won one of its seven games there, when it won 2-0 in 2013, but was also eliminated in the round of 16 by the defunct away goal rule (they had lost 3-1 in the first leg). He has not reached the semifinals since the 2008-2009 season, when Cristiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United eliminated him in that round.

On the domestic front, Bayern Munich managed to leave behind the coronation of Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga after 11 seasons of Bavarian dominance, while the Gunners added a new chapter to a black week because they fell last Sunday against Aston Villa, giving up the lead from the Premier League to Manchester City (they were two points away) and let the dream of achieving the first Champions League in their history slip away.

Trainings:

Bayern Munich: Manuel Neuer; Joshua Kimmich, Matthijs de Ligt, Eric Dier, Noussair Mazraoui; Leon Goretzka, Konrad Laimer; Leroy Sané, Jamal Musiala, Raphael Guerreiro; y Harry Kane. DT: Thomas Tuchel.

Arsenal: David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel, Takehiro Tomiyasu; Martin Odegaard, Jorginho, Declan Rice; Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli. DT: Mikel Arteta.

REFEREE: Danny Makkelie

STADIUM: Allianz Arena