Arsenal vs Bayern Munich LIVE: Champions League team news and ...
Arsenal host Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals this evening. The Gunners have reached this stage of Europe’s top flight competition for the first time since the 2009/10 season and are hoping to advance into the final four.
Mikel Arteta’s side, who are vying for the Premier League title as well, face a tough task against the German team who’s best chance of winning silverware this year is in this tournament. Bayern Munich are 16 points behind Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga but have performed admirably in Europe. They swept through the group stages undefeated before eliminating Lazio 3-1 on aggregate in the last-16 and with former Tottenham star Harry Kane leading the line they’ll want to take control of this tie with an away win at the Emirates Stadium.
But Arsenal will be confident. They are the current Premier League leaders, performed solidly during the groups, and came through a penalty shootout against Porto in the previous round. Arteta’s men have scored 17 goals already in this campaign and have triumphed in all four of their home matches. Can they do so again tonight?
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Mikel Arteta is so meticulous in preparations that when it comes to huge games like this, he knows he doesn’t have to say much. All of the work has been done on the training ground, the Arsenal players having been drilled to target Bayern Munich’s soft centre. Arteta certainly knows what not to say. He won’t be mentioning the 10-2 aggregate defeat from the last time the two teams met, rightly describing it as “history” when inevitably asked on the eve of the game.
It just isn’t relevant to his current Arsenal players, since none were involved. It’s barely relevant to the current Bayern squad, since only five were involved.
That quintet, led by Thomas Muller and Joshua Kimmich, now have far bigger concerns and there is an acute awareness that this iteration of Arsenal could do similar to them. Thomas Tuchel has been fixating on the gaps in his squad, which he feels are a consequence of longer-term squad-building issues.
That points to the one way the 10-2 is relevant in framing this game. It displays how empires rise and fall in football, and could neatly bookend what happened in 2017.
With around half an hour until kick-off, read Miguel Delaney’s preview of tonight’s game, as Arsenal look to put one foot in the Champions league semi-finals.
Chris Wilson9 April 2024 19:20
Chris Wilson9 April 2024 19:15
Thomas Tuchel has made four changes to the Bayern side that lost 3-2 to newly promoted Heidenheim at the weekend.
Manuel Neuer comes in for Sven Ulreich in goal, while both centre-backs are changed – Eric Dier and Matthijs De Ligt are in for Kim Min-jae and Dayot Upamecano.
On the right wing, Leroy Sane replaces Thomas Muller.
BAYERN SUBS: Upamecano, Kim, Coman, Choupo-Moting, Zaragoza, Peretz, Guerreiro, Muller, Ulreich, Tel, Mazraoui, Pavlovic.
Chris Wilson9 April 2024 19:06
So it’s two changes for Arsenal from the weekend’s win against Brighton.
Jakub Kiwior and Gabriel Martinelli come in for Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus.
The midfield of Rice, Jorginho and Odegaard stays the same, while Kai Havertz starts against a team that reportedly wanted to sign him in the summer.
ARSENAL SUBS: Ramsdale, Partey, Gabriel Jesus, Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Tomiyasu, Trossard, Vieira, Nelson, Elneny, Hein, Zinchenko.
Chris Wilson9 April 2024 19:02
The teams are in!
ARSENAL XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior; Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.
BAYERN XI: Neuer; Kimmich, Dier, De Ligt, Davies; Laimer, Goretzka; Sane, Musiala, Gnabry; Kane.
Chris Wilson9 April 2024 18:56
With the crowd behind them and their form in the league, it is hard to look beyond Arsenal, but Bayern only have the Champions League to play for after dropping out of the title race.
Arsenal 2-1 Bayern Munich.
Chris Wilson9 April 2024 18:50
Bayern had a similarly straightforward start to their Champions League campaign, easily progressing through their group before a small slip-up in their first round of 16 game and then a turnaround in the home tie to ensure qualification.
The Bavarian side came top of a group that included Manchester United, FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray, winning all but one of their games.
In the round of 16 the Germans faced a potentially difficult tie against a spirited Lazio side, with the first game in Rome ending 1-0 to the Italians. But Bayern turned it around in the home leg, winning 3-0 thanks to two goals from Harry Kane and another from Bayern veteran Thomas Muller.
Bayern’s Champions League results this season:
Bayern 4-3 Manchester United
Copenhagen 1-2 Bayern
Galatasaray 1-3 Bayern
Bayern 2-1 Galatasaray
Bayern 0-0 Copenhagen
Manchester United 0-1 Bayern
Lazio 1-0 Bayern
Bayern 3-0 Lazio
Chris Wilson9 April 2024 18:30
The home side have had a fairly straightforward route to this stage of the competition, though they did require a penalty shootout to advance from their round of 16 tie against Portuguese side FC Porto. The Gunners won 4-2 on penalties, having come back from being 1-0 down in the first leg.
In the group stages, Arsenal were paired against Sevilla, Dutch champions-elect PSV Eindhoven and French side RC Lens.
The Gunners won four, drew one and lost one of their group games, the sole loss coming against Lens.
Mikel Arteta’s side won all three of their home games, including a 6-0 drubbing of Lens, a comfortable 2-0 win over Sevilla and a 4-0 win against fellow round of 16 side PSV.
Arsenal’s Champions League results this season:
Arsenal 4-0 PSV
RC Lens 2-1 Arsenal
Sevilla 1-2 Arsenal
Arsenal 2-0 Sevilla
Arsenal 6-0 RC Lens
PSV 1-1 Arsenal
FC Porto 1-0 Arsenal
Arsenal 1-0 FC Porto (4-2 on penalties)
Chris Wilson9 April 2024 18:20
There’s more team news from tonight’ visitors, who welcome back a handful of players after a disappointing loss to Bundesliga newcomers Hedeinheim at the weekend.
Manuel Neuer is expected to be fit for the match despite missing the last two games with a torn adductor muscle sustained while on international duty.
Kingsley Coman, Leroy Sane, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Noussair Mazraoui all missed Bayern’s defeat at the weekend, but trained ahead of the Champions League clash and could be in contention.
Chris Wilson9 April 2024 18:10
The line-ups should be released in around one hour, but before that a re-cap of the early team news.
Arsenal have no new injury concerns, and although summer signing Jurrien Timber was training on grass earlier in the week, it is unlikely he will feature having been out since August. For Mikel Arteta, the only ‘worry’ is about which starting eleven is the best to take on Bayern.
Chris Wilson9 April 2024 18:00
