GUNNERS UNDER SIEGE AGAINST BAYERN
ARSENAL will have to produce the biggest second-leg comeback in a Champions League knockout tie to avoid a seventh successive exit at the last-16 stage when they host Bayern Munich tonight.
A 5-1 trouncing in Bavaria left the Gunners facing mission impossible for the return leg, and confidence is hardly soaring after a 3-1 defeat by Liverpool on Saturday left Arsene Wenger’s team outside the Premier League’s top four.
To progress, Arsenal will have to better the feat of Spaniards Deportivo La Coruna who recovered from a 4-1 loss away to AC Milan in 2004, winning 4-0 at home to reach the semis.
The last time a team overcame a four-goal deficit in European competition was Real Madrid in the 1985-86 Uefa Cup – beating Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-0 at home after suffering, like Arsenal, a 5-1 defeat in Germany.
Few Arsenal fans will travel to the Emirates with much hope though and, rather than provide one of the greatest comebacks ever witnessed, the fixture is likely to provide another soapbox for the growing band who feel Wenger’s era is close to the end.
Arsenal’s capitulation in Munich, together with Premier League losses to Watford, Chelsea and Liverpool in their last four Premier League games, have stretched the patience of even Wenger’s most loyal disciples to breaking point.
His decision to leave Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal’s leading scorer, on the bench against Liverpool puzzled many.
While Wenger will hope for a face-saving miracle against Bayern, he is probably already looking ahead to next weekend’s FA Cup sixth-round clash with fifth-tier Lincoln City.
After that it will be trying to salvage a 21st consecutive topfour finish in the Premier League.
Bayern, on the other hand, are buoyant after a 3-0 win at Cologne extended their Bundesliga lead to seven points.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti will not be taking anything for granted either having been victim of one of the competition’s most astonishing comebacks when Liverpool beat Milan in the 2005 final after trailing 3-0 at half time in Istanbul.
Napoli will need to stay focused and avoid distractions if they are to have any chance of clawing back their two-goal deficit against Real Madrid tonight.
Bidding to reach the quarterfinals for the first time, Serie A’s highest-scoring side certainly have enough talent to cause an upset against the titleholders, who are looking to reach the last eight for the seventh season running.
Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri, a former bank employee who did not play professionally himself, has moulded the likes of Marek Hamsik, Dries Mertens, Jose Callejon and Lorenzo Insigne into the most entertaining side in Italy’s top flight.
Too often, though, Napoli seem to get distracted – both on and off the field.
The latest episode began when their flamboyant club president, Aurelio de Laurentiis, publicly criticised the team after their 3-1 defeat in the first leg at the Bernabeu three weeks ago. Not for the first time, he imposed a media blackout on both the coach and players, who have refused to give interviews since.
They dominated Saturday’s Serie A match at second-placed Roma but still had to cling on at the end for a 2-1 win after letting up in the final few minutes.