Aadi's Sports Corner

The first leg of the UCL quarter-final at the Emirates had a lot to expect from besides pure entertainment. History might consider Bayern as the heavyweights and favoured ones to advance to the next round, but as the saying goes, “Football is decided not on paper, but by what happens on the field over those 90 minutes.”

The home team Arsenal decided to go with a classic 4-3-3 formation. The manager Mikel Arteta decided to leave out experienced star Gabriel Jesus out of the starting line-up. The striker’s recent form was something that might concern a lot of fans, but his experience in the UCL among the current Arsenal squad cannot be overlooked given the club’s 7 year hiatus from the competition. For the likes of Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and starboy Bukayo Saka, this can prove to be a stage to set the competition ablaze.

Thomas Tuchel, the Bayern manager decided to not take any chances and chose a lineup that had Manuel Neuer back from a small injury and took a 4-2-3-1 formation. Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sane started as midfielders and were expected to evolve as wingers going forward with Jamal Musiala being a creative support in the midfield. Once again at the centre of  all the action was Harry Kane who is the joint top-scorer of the UCL this season. 

Arsenal started off by dominating the initial stages of the game which was fruitful after a curving strike from young Bukayo Saka. The winger moved past 4 defenders to score the opener and give Arsenal the lead in a massive tie. 

The opening goal seemed to stir up the Bayern players who not long after scored the equaliser courtesy former Gunner’s man, Serge Gnabry who after a mix up between the Arsenal players received a beautiful short pass from Leon Goretzka to slide the ball into the net. David Raya couldn’t  do much after coming out of his goal.

At the half an hour stage, Leroy Sane ran across the Arsenal midfield, destroying his opponent’s defence and was tripped down in the penalty box by William Saliba. Harry Kane, the former Tottenham player decided to take the penalty and made no mistake as he slid the ball into the net to score his 39th goal of the season. The penalty goal also made sure that Harry Kane’s penalty scoring record for Bayern stays intact making it 5/5. This was also Harry Kane’s 20th match against Arsenal wherein he scored his 15th goal against them.

The second half had plenty of entertainment. The half kicked off with Arsenal once again dominating the pitch. Early free-kicks from Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard proved to be ineffective as both the players skied the ball over the crossbar. 

The substitution of Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard was a trump card for Mikel Arteta and his gunners. The 2 substitutes combined to get Arsenal back into the game with the Emirates stadium getting on its feet for the final 15 minutes of the first leg. 

The match was evenly contested in the closing moments with Bukayo Saka coming close to scoring the winner but was eventually denied by Neuer. The final decision of the match of not awarding a penalty to Arsenal for the block on Bukayo Saka might be controversial but was a fitting end to a match of such a stature. 

The match is wide open for both the teams going into the second leg to be contested at the Allianz Arena in Germany. Bayern will be expected to use their home advantage to their best potential and another UCL classic might be on the cards.