Bayern Munich confirmed their spot in the Champions League quarterfinals
with a 5-1 win at 10-man Arsenal on Tuesday to advance 10-2 on
aggregate.
A first-half Theo Walcott goal gave Arsenal a glimmer of hope, but
Laurent Koscielny was sent off while conceding a penalty soon after the
break, and Robert Lewandowski scored from the spot.
Arjen Robben, Douglas Costa then added goals before a Arturo Vidal added gloss to the scoreline with a late brace.
With the result mostly in hand after the 5-1 first leg in Germany, many
Arsenal fans began their night with a pregame march to the Emirates
calling for Arsene Wenger to step down.
And after Arsenal were dealt an additional blow by losing Danny Welbeck
to an injury in the warm-up, Bayern were comfortable in possession in
the opening minutes before the Gunners found their footing.
Olivier Giroud, starting in place of Welbeck, saw the first real chance
on 13 minutes, but his header from close range only scraped the outside
of the post.
Walcott provided Arsenal's goal on 20 minutes after he split two
defenders and blasted a shot into the roof of the net from the side of
the six-yard box.
Bayern nearly erased the goal four minutes later as Vidal saw his header
saved by Ospina, then put his follow-up attempt over the bar.
Walcott had another chance from a similar position to where he scored
hit the side netting before he was booked along with David Alaba after
the two clashed.
But as the second half began, Bayern reasserted control. After having a
goal ruled out for offside, the game ended as a contest after Koscielny
was dismissed in the 53rd minute.
With Lewandowski racing in on goal, Koscielny tried to shoulder the
striker off the ball but could not draw level and the referee pointed to
the spot.
Lewandowski sent David Ospina the wrong way to equalise on the night and end the round-of-16 clash as a contest.
Robben then ensured Bayern left London with the second-leg victory in
the 68th minute. Ospina sent a poor clearance right to him, and though
it appeared Alexis Sanchez had won the ball back, Robben took it off his
foot and scored easily.
The floodgates were opened and Costa added another goal in the 78th
minute when he ran at Shkodran Mustafi before curling a shot inside the
far post.
Arsenal were still attempting to mount an attack two minutes later when
Xabi Alonso picked off a Mustafi pass and passed ahead for Vidal to
scoop a shot past the helpless Ospina.
Bayern's fifth followed with five minutes to play, Renato Sanches
lofting a pass over Arsenal's high line to Douglas Costa, who
unselfishly fed across for Vidal.
No comments:
Post a Comment