Preview: Bayern Munich v Arsenal Women | Match preview | News
After a year’s absence, we kick off in the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage tonight away to Bayern Munich.
An exceptionally tough first fixture though it may be, our Gunners have very fond memories from our last meeting with Bayern in the Champions League.
LAST TIME AROUNDIt was an unforgettable night under the lights at Emirates Stadium the last time these two sides met.
Drawn together in the 2022/23 Champions League quarter-finals, the first leg at Allianz Arena was a narrow 1-0 win for Bayern Munich, courtesy of Lea Schuller.
Torrential rain and a 12th minute injury to captain Kim Little gave the home leg an inauspicious start but our team had plenty more to give.
With a quick, no-look flick from Leah Williamson and a thunderous shot from Frida Maanum into the very top corner, we were back on level terms in the tie after just 19 minutes played. Stina Blackstenius then gave us the lead soon after to book our place in the semi-final against Wolfsburg.
the opponentsBayern Munich entered the competition at the group stages as German champions, with back-to-back Frauen Bundesliga titles and an equally commanding start to this season’s campaign.
The side have also shown consistency in Europe, reaching the knockout stages every year since 2018/19 until last season’s unceremonious early exit.
Bayern have added ex-Chelsea legends Pernille Harder and Magdalena Eriksson, and Scottish star Sam Kerr to their ranks since we last met, though their core remains largely the same. German national team stalwarts Klara Buhl, Sydney Lohman and Giulia Gwinn are all players to watch out for, as is Lionesses midfielder Georgia Stanway.
what the managers sayEidevall on Bayern: "They’re really strong in the counter-attacking game. They move with a lot of pace once they’re facing forward and that part you have to look out for when you’re playing against them.
"I think they’ve been looking really strong on their set pieces so far this season, so that’s another part you need to watch out for. They’re well organised, a good team but so are we, and while they have strengths, they’ll also have weaknesses, and we need to exploit them. We need to mitigate our weaknesses and play to our strengths, and that’s going to be the tactical battle here tomorrow night."
Straus on us: "We played them two years ago and I think their strength is they have a lot of individual quality, as well as a good model of play. We're going to play one game tomorrow and we'll try to solve the problems that Arsenal put in front of us. We'll try to give them some problems that they have to solve.
TEAM NEWSRecent squad returnees Leah Williamson and Steph Catley trained on Tuesday morning and made the journey to Germany with the team. Laura Wienroither and Lina Hurtig, meanwhile, remain unavailable.
Victoria Pelova continues her ACL recovery at Sobha Realty Training Centre.
match officialsReferee: Lina Lehtovaara
Assistant referees: Heini Hyvönen and Irina Pozdejeva
Fourth official: Minka Vekkeli
All the action kicks off at the FC Bayern Campus at 5.45pm (UK). DAZN are streaming the fixture live on their YouTube channel so that supporters at home won't miss a kick.
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