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Arsenal pulled off a shock victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League to keep their European hopes alive. The Gunners, who had already suffered two shock defeats to Dinamo Zagreb and Olmpiakos in their first two games, managed to claim all three points against Bundesliga giants Bayern to give themselves a slim chance of reaching the knock out stages of the Champions League.
In the build up to the game it was quite clear that Bayern Munich were the favourites to come away with all three points, and was almost impossible to see how the Gunners could get the better of the German Champions. Nonetheless they displayed great unity as a team to dig deep to earn themselves a hard fought victory.
This was Petr Cech’s first appearance in the Champions League for his new club, and he most certainly made a huge impact. Cech was assured throughout the game and pulled off two fantastic saves to deny Thiago and the in-form Robert Lewandowski. It is fair to say David Ospina was not missed.
The first half was largely dominated by Pep Guardiola’s side, the German’s cut open Arsenal’s defence on two occasions in the first half, but Petr Cech stood tall to deny both efforts. Arsenal had their fair share of chances too. Theo Walcott’s close range header was saved brilliantly by a stretching Manuel Neuer who gave everyone a reminder of why he is regarded as the best goalkeeper in the world.
With Bayern Munich dominating possession it was difficult for Theo Walcott to make an impact on the game. So once again Olivier Giroud came on as a ‘super sub’, and after just two minutes of being on the pitch the Frenchman managed to get on the end of Santi Cazorla’s free kick to give Arsenal the lead. This puts the striker on five goals for the season, four of them scored as a substitute.
Arsenal secured the victory in the dying seconds of the game. Hector Bellerin intercepted the ball brilliantly within his own half and then went on a fantastic run down the right hand side to deliver a cross to German playmaker Mesut Ozil who slotted home with his left foot. Neuer managed to get a hand to the ball, but couldn’t get there in time to stop the ball from crossing the line.
This leaves Arsenal bottom of the group with three points, however this victory puts them back on track in Europe, and means they are within touching distance of Olympiakos and Bayern Munich who are both on six points.
Slowly but surely, Arsenal are looking like a top quality side this season who you would expect to be challenging all of the top teams domestically and in Europe.
The Gunners face Everton in the Premier League on Saturday evening and will be hoping to go top of the table as Manchester City and Manchester United play each other on Sunday. Everton suffered a heavy defeat to Manchester United last week, and Arsenal will be hoping to emulate their title rivals performance against the Evertonians to ensure a victory.
