Munich: Bayern Munich barely staved off an improbable comeback on Wednesday, eliminating Arsenal from the Champions League despite a 2-0 loss at home to leave England without a team in the quarter-finals for the first time in 17 years.
Olivier Giroud gave Arsenal and early lead in the third minute and Laurent Koscielny added the second in the 86th but Arsenal remained one goal away from erasing their 3-1 deficit from the first leg. With the series level 3-3 on aggregate, Bayern advanced to the quarter-finals on the away goals rule.
Bayern are four-time winners of the competition and were runner-up twice in the last three seasons. In the second match on Wednesday, Malaga beat Porto 2-0 to reach the last eight 2-1 on aggregate.
Arsenal players had said before the game they needed a "miracle" to advance, and after the early goal it looked like they might just get one. Tomas Rosicky fed Theo Walcott on the right and the winger found space when David Alaba slipped on the wet grass. Walcott raced into the penalty area and sent a hard, low ball through the legs of Dante and across the goal for Giroud to drive it into the roof of the net from a couple of meters (yards) out.
That made for a nervous evening for the home crowd, although Bayern gradually took control of the game and didn't allow any more dangerous chances for the rest of the half. The hosts then dominated much of the second half but were limited mostly to long-range attempts. Arsenal then added more suspense into the match by netting the second.
Santi Cazorla sent in a corner and Koscielny beat Javi Martinez to the header and sent the ball low inside the right post. Arsenal couldn't seriously threaten again, though, as Bayern hung on to their edge from the first leg.
Comments
0 comment