There was not even a shred of expectation among Arsenal fans before Bayern Munich’s last visit in March 2017. There was active disdain among the few hundred fans: a march towards the Emirates down Avenell Road, where Highbury’s art deco façade faces east. The stand with banners calling for Arsène Wenger to end his long but fading tenure remained. Within three hours these banners were being waved around the ground by the masochistic souls who remained until the end of another 5-1 defeat; That scoreline against the Bundesliga series champions was embarrassing for the third time in a row. This was supposed to be a meeting of continental powers; instead it was another embarrassment.
The same fans will be in the stands on Tuesday. It is too early to say that the situation has completely changed, but for now Arsenal and Bayern see their situation turning around. A slick, clinical and tightly drilled machine will face a disorganized, porous side full of talented but volatile individuals and led by a manager whose time is about to run out. That Mikel Arteta’s team could claim to be the first of these and go into the quarter-final tie as slight favourites, would have been unthinkable when Arturo Vidal completed the process of booing and stadium emptying seven years ago.
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Arsenal’s biggest Champions League game since 2010 is not filled with the despair that surrounded their last appearance at this point. At that time, they were happy to overtake Barcelona’s 2-0 home lead at the height of the Guardiola era; There had been almost no strikes in the first hour, but they had hardly had a prayer at the Camp Nou and were demolished by four goals. From Lionel Messi. There are fewer reasons to fear this time and Arteta has a realistic hope of leading Bavaria next week: Bayern have conceded at least two goals in each of their last six home and away games and a modest win against Lazio in the last 16 took. win by one goal.
Maybe they don’t carry the mystery of the past. Arteta was only involved in the first of the 5-1s on Arsenal’s record and was not involved that day, but he made three appearances against them in the mid-2010s, a period when those clubs appeared magnetically attractive. When we looked at Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribéry, Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos and their colleagues across the midfield line before kick-off, it was impossible not to feel an aura.
“What they convey through their body language is this presence and security,” Arteta recalled. “Because they did it and they have the assurance that they can do it again, and that’s really important. That team also had some world champions and they were tough too.”
Müller and Manuel Neuer are still around to exude some of this seriousness; Perhaps it should not be forgotten that in Kingsley Coman the away team had a player who tipped the Champions League final in Bayern’s favour. Even in turbulent times, a club of their stature can survive with such pedigree: Bayern can take to the Emirates pitch with the kind of muscle memory that, as Arteta knows, is belief in their institution’s ability to progress to the biggest stage. It was hard won.
“They have experience and they’ve been through a lot of these moments and it’s in their history,” he said. The six-time winner of Europe’s top prize will ultimately face a club still looking to break the bank. How can Arsenal gain the confidence that oozes from the Bayern players who constantly beat them? “I’m winning,” Arteta replied. “Winning, winning and winning, becoming more confident and gaining experience.”
Arteta was in no mood to bite the Harry Kane factor. The sight of Spurs’ former nemesis is likely to be more kryptonite for his players than a snapshot of a Bayern jersey. Kane has scored 14 goals in 17 Premier League appearances against Arsenal, although it is worth noting that only four of these have come in the last seven. His 38 goals for Bayern have largely exempted him from the scorn of his struggling colleagues. Given Kane’s well-documented personal mission to lift the Champions League trophy, the identity of the opponents aiming to stop him will certainly add further edge to his night.
“There are services and players around to provide these opportunities; “That’s what we need to try to avoid,” was Arteta’s only substantive reply. He knows Arsenal are better placed than ever to stop Kane: they have conceded four times in their 11 top-flight games since the start of the year and their expected goal count is above five. The figures show that their evil is not just an externally driven narrative: they are in exactly the kind of rhythm that Arteta says breeds success.
While the Emirates was half full when Bayern got a clear result last time out, it will welcome more Arsenal fans than ever on Tuesday, after away fans were banned for poor behavior in previous matches. It’s another point of polar opposition to those dark days, and Arteta, as always, has not hesitated to exaggerate the potential impact of the crowd. No one can eliminate these Bayern strikes, but Arsenal can reduce them to the layers of sand. With no chance of facing any protests in the near future, their manager said: “This is their history and they deserve it.” “We must create our own world.”