5 reasons Bayern will beat Arsenal in UEFA Champions League

The irrepressible Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala plus a terrific Champions League tradition are factors that give Bayern Munich the upper hand in their quarter-final encounter with Arsenal. bundesliga.com explains why the Bavarians will make the final four…

1) Shining stars

Harry Kane will be dominating all the headlines ahead of the tie for good reason – he returns to North London and the rivals of his former club Tottenham – after a historic debut Bundesliga season. Given the frequency Kane has burst nets in Germany and Europe in the current campaign, it is worth taking a step back and underlining just how incredible his recent form has been.

A brace against Lazio sparked a run of six goals in three matches before the March international break. Along with the chance of being the highest scorer ever in a Bundesliga campaign, Kane is in a leading pack of four players on six Champions League goals – with Erling Haaland, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé – and further strikes against Arsenal could see him become the elite competition’s top scorer this season.

Manuel Neuer needs just one more clean sheet to be the UEFA Champions League’s most successful goalkeeper ever. –
Arsenal are in for a shock if they focus their defensive efforts on stifling Kane, however. Attacking livewire Jamal Musiala is also in the form of his life – with nine goal involvements in his last eight games.

With the evergreen Thomas Müller – who reached 700 appearances for Bayern at the weekend – artfully pulling strings and Serge Gnabry returning from a long injury break to score twice from the bench before the international break, Bayern are brimming with star firepower eager to make their mark on their quarter-final.

2) Seasoned side

Another factor that tends to show at this stage of the competition is the value of experience. Having reached at least the quarter-final stage in each of the past four seasons, the advantage in this area is very clearly on Bayern’s side against Arsenal – who have not gone this far in the Champions League since 2010.

While Kane needs just three more goals to pull level with Wayne Rooney as the Champions League’s highest-scoring Englishman (with 30 goals), there is little chance of him catching Müller anytime soon with the German boasting 54 strikes in the competition – a tally surpassed only by six players in history.

Manuel Neuer tied Iker Casillas for the most clean sheets taken by a goalkeeper in Champions League history with his 57th shutout against Lazio in the last round – and needs to play five more times to break into the all-time top 10 for appearances in the competition (with Müller in sixth and on the brink of the top five). Joshua Kimmich, Kingsley Coman, Leon Goretzka, Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry all boast in excess of 40 appearances on the Champions League stage – leaving Arsenal with their work cut out in mastering unfamiliar territory against such seasoned pros.

3) Eyes on the prize

Bayern’s hopes of claiming a 12th successive Bundesliga title in May are all but at an end, with the 16-point gap to leaders Bayer Leverkusen meaning the UEFA Champions League is their only remaining realistic route to silverware this season.

Bayern and Thomas Tuchel have been there and done it before – with seven players who started the Munich side’s 2020 UEFA Champions League final win still at the club, while Tuchel got his hands on the illustrious trophy the following year with Chelsea.

Thomas Müller celebrates after scoring to make it 5-1 in Bayern’s first leg against Arsenal the last time they met in the UEFA Champions League in the 2016/17 edition’s last 16. – imago sportfotodienst
With Arsenal locked in a tense, three-way English Premier League title battle with Manchester City and Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, Mikel Arteta can afford no such luxury of focusing his side’s efforts on the huge quarter-final clash.

4) Marvellous memories

Bayern boast a strong seven wins in 12 encounters with Arsenal over the years, with the most recent meetings giving even more cause for cheer. Remarkably, the past three matches have all been won by the Bundesliga side with the same convincing scoreline: 5-1.

Neuer kept goal and Müller scored twice in the first of that terrific trilogy in 2015 – while the Raumdeuter netted again to score his side’s fifth in the first leg of a 2017 last-16 encouter, before Bayern ran out winners by the same scoreline in London in the return tie.

Few would venture to forecast such a thumping win for Bayern at an Arsenal side enjoying a magnificent season, but the history can give Bayern added confidence – and when Bayern are at their best, there are barely any sides capable of stopping the free-scoring machine.

5) London calling

The Bundesliga giants do like a trip to the English capital and have more often than not come away from their visits to London smiling. Bayern are unbeaten in six of their last nine games there, having won four and drawn two of those. In a wider geographical sense, Tuchel’s team have already enjoyed success against English opposition just this season, with FCB twice beating Manchester United in the Champions League group stages. In terms of Bayern’s overall record against English opponents, the German side’s impressive numbers read: W27 D18 L16.