Bayern advance, but Arsenal earn draw in Munich

Bayern advance, but Arsenal earn draw in Munich

Holders Bayern Munich booked their place in the Champions League's quarter-finals, despite Arsenal earning a 1-1 draw in Bavaria in Tuesday's last 16, second-leg clash.

Bayern Munich's midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger celebrates scoring in Munich, southern Germany, on March 11, 2014

A second-half Bastian Schweinsteiger goal gave Bayern a brief lead before Arsenal's Lukas Podolski equalised with a thunderbolt of a shot as the tie finished 3-1 on aggregate.

"We put in a very, very good first-half and controlled the game by giving away no goal chances," said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm.

"But we made a few too many mistakes in the second-half."

Arsenal, who also went out at the same stage of the competition to the same opponents last season, failed to overturn their 2-0 deficit from the first leg three weeks ago.

But midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain told ITV they could be proud of their performance in Munich.

"We lacked a bit of quality with the final ball. We got into a lot of dangerous positions but lacked that final cutting-edge ball," he said.

"The boys put in a great shift tonight, we can take away positives and be proud of our efforts.

"They (Bayern) are definitely up there with the best teams but there's still a lot of good teams in it."

Amidst hopes of repeating last season's shock 2-0 win in Munich, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger made six changes from the team which lost to Bayern in London.

Lukasz Fabianski was named in goal for the suspended Wojciech Szczesny, who was sent off in the first-leg.

There were only six of the seven permitted replacements named amidst reports Japan's Ryo Miyaichi flew to Germany despite being ineligible for the Champions League's knock-out stages.

Bayern coach Pep Guardiola made three changes from the first leg, switching from a 4-1-4-1 in London to the 4-2-3-1 formation used in last season's European final.

"We didn't gave them many chances, we had expected them to push forward a bit more," said Guardiola.

"It was a good result for us and we're just glad we're through."

Bayern got off a bad start when centre-back Dante was booked for a clumsy challenge on Oxlade-Chamberlain after only eight minutes.

It was his third of Bayern's European campaign and means he is suspended for the quarter-final first-leg.

Spain's Javi Martinez had a goal disallowed for offside after 27 minutes, while at the other end Bayern's Manuel Neuer saved Olivier Giroud's header.

It stayed goalless at the break even though Bayern enjoyed their customary 70 percent possession.

- Off-form Ozil replaced -

Wenger made a key change for the second-half as Mesut Ozil, who had hamstring trouble, made way for Tomas Rosicky in the attacking midfield role.

It marked a miserable two legs for the off-form Ozil, who apologised to Gunners fans via Facebook after failing to convert a key penalty in the first-leg.

"Ozil has a hamstring injury and it looks quite serious," revealed Wenger.

"He will miss (Sunday's) Tottenham game for sure, he needs a scan. He's out for at least a few weeks."

Soon after the break referee Svein Oddvar Moen ignored Bayern's penalty appeals when Robben went down in the area just before the opening goal.

Ribery found space on the left and crossed inside to Schweinsteiger, playing his first Champions League game since November, to drill home on 55 minutes.

The lead lasted just two minutes as Podolski robbed Lahm and fired home from a tight angle giving Manuel Neuer no chance.

There was drama in added time as Bayern replacement Thomas Mueller had a penalty attempt saved by Fabianski after Robben was fouled by centre-back Laurent Koscielny.

The result was welcome news in a dark week for the Bavarian giants.

The Allianz Arena clash was played against the backdrop of the court case against Bayern president Uli Hoeness, which started Monday.

The 1974 World Cup winner is fighting to avoid a jail term and stands accused of having dodged 27.2 million euros ($37.6 million) in taxes by hiding his wealth in Swiss bank accounts.

A verdict is expected on Thursday and major tax fraud carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in Germany.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT