The turnaround in the opening half hour was not enough for Bayern to win. Arsenal’s draw was secured by substitute Trossard

Premier League leader Arsenal challenged struggling Bayern in the Champions League quarter-finals. The Munich team could not rely on the support of its own fans at London’s Emirates Stadium in Tuesday’s opening game, having been banned as a punishment for throwing pyrotechnics on Lazio Roma’s pitch in the previous stage of the competition. The Bavarian giants turned the tide in the opening half-hour, but conceded a goal in the second half and eventually drew 2-2.

Gabriel Martinelli fired the first shot of the opening half, when the visitors had problems with the ball, in the seventh minute from outside the sixteen. However, it was just wide of the right post. Referee Nyberg drew his first yellow card relatively early on, showing it to the fouling Alphonso Davies at the end of the opening ten minutes.

A good start to the game gave the home side the lead in the twelfth minute. After a quick combination with White’s assist at the end, Bukayo Saka put the ball into the left side of Manuel Neuer’s net with a leaping shot. Four minutes later, Ben White had a great chance himself but hit the German goalkeeper from a good position.

Although Bayern had not been doing well until then, they equalised in the 18th minute with a 1-1 draw. The Londoners hesitated in their own half and the attacking opponent took the ball away from them. After a pass from Goretzka, Serge Gnabry shot past David Raya.

In the 27th minute, Arsenal’s corner kick in the small area led to a messy situation, which Neuer was able to clear. With half an hour to go, Sané broke through to Ray’s goal and was illegally stopped by Saliba, causing a penalty.

Harry Kane was on hand to take the penalty kick and sent the ball neatly down the right post. The top scorer of the current Champions League campaign then turned the score around to 1:2. The Gunners could not find an answer in the rest of the half.

Second half

At the break, the coach of the losing team Mikel Arteta made one change in the line-up. Jakub Kiwior was replaced by another defender Olexandr Zinchenko. Their teammate Rice then missed a standard situation in the 51st minute as he shot over the crossbar from mid-range.

Four minutes later, Kane elbowed Gabriel and saw a yellow card. During the second half, both teams tried to overcome their rival’s defensive line with attacking actions, but they failed to do so. Meanwhile, there were several substitutions.

One of them paid off for Arsenal. Leandro Trossard, who had come on for Gabriel Jesus ten minutes earlier, fired beyond the goalkeeper’s reach in the middle of the penalty area to equalise at 2-2 with a quarter of an hour left.

That was the final result, with Coman hitting the bar in the last minute of regulation time and Saka not only vainly claiming a penalty after his fall in the opponent’s penalty area. Thomas Tuchel’s charges survived that moment without a penalty and took a hopeful draw from London into the rematch in Munich.

Real Madrid and Manchester City were also amicably separated in the concurrent fixture. In a match of two turnovers, the final score was 3-3.

Source: UEFA, Nova Sport 3