Wenger rues ‘collapse’ in Munich as hopes fade again
ARSENE WENGER admitted Arsenal “collapsed” as Bayern Munich thrashed them 5-1 at the Allianz Arena.
The Gunners have fallen at this stage in the last six years and now need to produce a miracle performance at the Emirates Stadium to progress.
Arjen Robben put Bayern ahead before Alexis Sanchez drew the visitors level. But a Robert Lewandowski header, Thiago brace in 10 second-half minutes and a late strike from substitute Thomas Muller added the gloss.
Wenger told BT Sport: “It’s difficult to explain. Just before half-time we had two good chances to score. We came back and played well.
“In the second half we lost Koscielny very quickly – he came off at 1-1 – and finally we collapsed. And Bayern are a better team than us as well. I felt the third goal was a killer for our players because after that we had no response.”
Robben’s opening goal was delightful as the Duthcman moved inside unchallenged before bending a superb effort past the desperate dive of Ospina. Bayern dominated possession for much of the opening period as Arsenal remained boxed in defensively.
Manuel Neuer was equal to Alexis Sanchez’s penalty after referee Milorad Mazic pointed to the spot having adjudged that Lewandowski had fouled Laurent Koscielny inside the box. Although he missed the resulting spotkick, Sanchez recovered and after fluffing his lines again managed to tuck away the equaliser.
The Gunners were growing in confidence and, after Germany World Cup winner Mesut Ozil and Sanchez combined, the latter slipped in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain whose cross dropped to Granit Xhaka, but his firm shot was straight at Neuer.
The game and the tie arguably hinged on an incident on 49 minutes when Koscielny over-stretched to make a clearance and was forced off, with Gabriel on in his place.
Less than 15 minutes later Arsenal were three goals behind as Lewandowski nodded home Philipp Lahm’s cross before flicking a pass into the path of Thiago, who slotted home coolly.
Chances kept coming Bayern’s way, Ospina getting down well to push Vidal’s low drive wide on the post before tipping Douglas Costa’s strike behind.
Muller came off the bench to a heroes welcome as Lewandowski made way, and despite having only four minutes to make an impact he did just that as he converted the fifth as Bayern beat Arsenal 5-1 for the second meeting in succession.
Meanwhile, Two goals in five secondhalf minutes helped Real Madrid come from behind to beat Napoli 3-1 in the first leg of their last-16 clash at the Bernabeu. Brazilian Casemiro scored a stunning second-half goal to cap a thrilling comeback after Lorenzo Insigne’s eighth-minute opener had threatened to pull off an upset.
Karim Benzema equalised for the hosts before Toni Kroos put Real in front four minutes after the restart by steering a first-time shot past Reina from Cristiano Ronaldo’s inch-perfect cross and Casemiro lashed a 30-yard volley past Jose Reina to complete an impressive victory.