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Being drawn against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals represents a tough test for Arsenal – who, with all due respect to their last-16 opponents Porto, have not faced a leading foreign opposition for several years.
Bayern systematically reaches the semi-finals of this competition. Once their Bundesliga challenge is over, they can afford to put all their eggs in the Champions League basket. They have a European Cup winning manager in Thomas Tuchel and Harry Kane, who has already scored 14 goals against Arsenal in his career.
But perhaps most worrying for Arsenal fans, if not their current players, is the club’s horrendous record against Bayern. Their last three meetings all ended 5-1 against the Germans: a group stage match in 2015-16, then the two round of 16 matches the following season. Bayern, arguably as much as any other team, demonstrated how far Arsenal were from Europe’s elite in the final days of Arsene Wenger’s reign.
Watching these matches now feels like visiting an entirely different era of football – and, undoubtedly, an entirely different era of Arsenal. The common theme between all three results, in hindsight, is not that Arsenal were tactically overwhelmed, but their reliance on a single player: central defender Laurent Koscielny.
Koscielny was a special footballer. He spent nine years as a starter at Arsenal, where he scored in a victorious FA Cup final and eventually became captain, and won 51 caps for France, and yet he rarely comes up in conversation these days -this.
The first 5-1 defeat, in November 2015, was a particular surprise, as Arsenal had beaten Bayern 2-0 in the second leg at the Emirates a fortnight before. It was a must-win game, after Arsenal began their Champions League campaign with shock defeats to Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos. But they produced a composed and defensive performance, winning thanks to a fortunate strike from Olivier Giroud and a decisive goal from Mesut Ozil in added time.
So how did Arsenal go from a 2-0 home win over Bayern to a 5-1 collapse in Munich two weeks later?
One of the main reasons was the absence of Koscielny, who was due to start, as usual, alongside Per Mertesacker, but withdrew shortly before kick-off due to a hip injury . This meant that Gabriel Paulista (not to be confused with Arsenal’s current Brazilian centre-back, Gabriel Magalhaes) deputized for him.
Which turned out to be disastrous.
Ten minutes later, Bayern’s Thiago received the ball between the lines and Gabriel marked Robert Lewandowski from close range. As Thiago went to pass the ball over the defense, Gabriel suddenly rushed forward from five meters, trying to put Lewandowski offside. It was too late. The Pole, completely unmarked at close range, nodded.
But it wasn’t just about that question.
Arsenal looked rattled by the pressure from Pep Guardiola’s side. Joel Campbell and Alexis Sanchez, their full-backs, provided little defensive cover for full-backs Mathieu Debuchy and Nacho Monreal, while Francis Coquelin was overworked in the engine room alongside Santi Cazorla and Özil. Arsenal could rival Bayern in terms of flair, but not in terms of industry, without the energy of Aaron Ramsey.
Thomas Muller usually turned and shot in tight space to make it 2-0, David Alaba’s long-range belter made it three, and Arjen Robben came on to score the fourth with his first touch. Giroud’s acrobatic effort clawed a goal back, but Muller then escaped wide from Gabriel to make it 5-1 – not for the last time.
Afterwards, Wenger admitted that Arsenal had been “extremely poor defensively” and added: “The funny thing is that when we went forward, every time we seemed to be able to create chances, but with a performance defensive like that, you’re not going anywhere. »
Just over a year later, in early 2017, Arsenal had an opportunity for revenge: a first leg at Bayern, before hosting them in a potential decider. Could they hold on in Bavaria?
Well, to a certain extent, yes. Arsenal fell behind to a glorious opener from Robben – there’s no point describing the goal here, just imagine Robben scoring, and there you have it. But they equalized after 30 minutes when Sanchez scored a rebound from his own saved penalty. Notably, that penalty was won by an unlikely source – Koscielny, who had pinched his marker Lewandowski while trying to reach for a loose ball and ended up on the ground.
You’d expect Koscielny to be focused on getting ahead of Lewandowski at the other end, of course. And, throughout the first half, he managed the Pole perfectly. But shortly after halftime, Koscielny limped off injured. And – you may have heard this one before – Gabriel arrived.
Within four minutes, Lewandowski had scored, but beating Shkodran Mustafi with a high ball, rather than Gabriel. He then turned passer, providing a wonderful assist to Thiago to make it 3-1. The Spaniard made it 4-1 shortly after, and at this point Arsenal’s defense completely self-destructed, with only a few unnecessary finishes and some fine saves from David Ospina keeping the score at one. low level.
Muller, as in the previous match, made it 5-1 mercilessly.
“It’s difficult to explain,” Wenger said. “I felt we had two good chances to score just before halftime… then we conceded the second goal, and the most important thing was that we lost Koscielny. We collapsed.
Yet with that away goal, Arsenal only needed a… well, 4-0 victory in the second leg.
A tough request against the German champions, granted. But Koscielny was fit again, and when Theo Walcott burst through and slotted the ball past Manuel Neuer to make it 1-0 after 20 minutes, there was a vague hope. Arsenal arrived at half-time with their clean sheet intact.
And then, eight minutes into the second half, Lewandowski erred towards Koscielny and found himself on the ground. The game has completely changed. Not only did Bayern get a penalty, but Koscielny was sent off. Lewandowski scored from the spot.
Wenger, quite tellingly, chose not to introduce another central defender. Gabriel, so exposed during the previous 5-1, remained on the bench and Wenger instead used Granit Xhaka in central defense. He made a triple substitution in midfield and attack, while Xhaka continued to see his lack of speed highlighted by the running of Robben, who made the score 2-1, and Douglas Costa, who brought the score to 3-1. Arturo Vidal scored the last two goals, making it a 5-1 hat-trick.
And if you thought the offside trap for that Lewandowski header in the first of the 5-1 was bad, take a look at Vidal’s goal situations…
Against a backdrop of “Wenger Out” banners in the stands, it was to be the Frenchman’s last match in the Champions League, and Arsenal had to wait until this season to play in the competition again.
And therefore, the 5-1 was effectively all about Koscielny.
Once he came off before kick-off, once he went off injured and once he was sent off.
The total score during his time on the pitch in the three matches was 2-1 for Arsenal. Without him, it was 14-1 for Bayern.
He won Lewandowski’s penalty for Arsenal’s only goal in the second game, but then also conceded the penalty by fouling Lewandowski to put Bayern in charge of the third. Without him, Gabriel wasn’t good enough in the first game, wasn’t good enough in the second, and wasn’t seen as a better option than a moonshining midfielder in the third.
There is an obvious comparison to be made with the durability of Arsenal’s current centre-backs. Yes, William Saliba and Gabriel are both very good. But Koscielny was also very good, in his peak years. Perhaps more important than mere ability is the fact that the current duo is almost always available.
Saliba has not missed a single minute of the 2023-24 Premier League. Gabriel has been on the bench four times – twice introduced in the first two games of the season – but has been available for selection for every league game. Last season, he started all 38 games and only missed seven minutes of action. In 2023-24, none of them came out injured or received a red card.
It is worth remembering that Gabriel (Magalhaes) was once considered a reckless defender who too often got into trouble with the referees. A dismissal during a 2-1 home defeat to Manchester City on New Year’s Day 2021 is remembered fondly.
He and Saliba continue to play together because they are so good together – and, equally, they are so good together because they continue to play together. In terms of expected goals against (xGA), Arsenal have the best defensive record of any of Europe’s five major leagues this season.
Those 5-1 years of the previous decade won’t have a serious impact on this month’s draw. There are only four survivors from those matches, and all of them are at Bayern: Neuer, Muller, Joshua Kimmich and Kingsley Coman – while Arsenal are radically different.
You can never rule out Kane winning a match alone, especially against Arsenal. But Mikel Arteta has the most formidable defense around, and a good defense can take you far in European competition.
(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)