In the first UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final, Bayern Munich held Arsenal 1-0 at the Allianz Arena as time went on. In the meantime, the Munich women were very lucky in front of 20,000 spectators.
Bayern v Arsenal 1-0 (1-0)
Bayern Munich nearly made a true turbo start as Lina Magull and Lea Schüller fired into the Arsenal box from the first minute but both were blocked. Georgia Stanway started the match with a resolute tackle against Lia Wälti and a subsequent interface pass to Bühl.
After that, however, that Bavarian self-confidence faded, as Arsenal were high and the Munich side played unnecessary bad passes. Midfield pass stations and necessary movement were lacking. This was shown, for example, in the 19./20. Minute Grohs played imprecisely in midfield, Zadrazil failed to meet the ball fast enough and Arsenal had a double chance through Blackstenius and Maanum.
Soon after, however, the game turned around, as the Munich side scored more and more, but not always from a dangerous position. One of the highlights was Bühl’s pass to Schüller in the 26th minute. The Munich team now moved better between the lines of Arsenal and the « Gunners » did not really come out of it at the start and were lower.
Lea Schüller is getting noticed more and more and finally initiates her first goal herself with a pass to Rall (39th). Rall’s cross came straight into Schüller’s path, she jumped higher than Wienroither to make it 1-0. The national player could even have increased before the break (45th).
In the second half, however, the Munich team again came under a lot of pressure, partly through their own fault. Arsenal were again much higher and left the Munich side with little room to defend themselves. However, the home team were far too passive and played Arsenal in the cards.
Because the Munich women tried to keep the ball in their own third – where Arsenal particularly like to press. The most striking player was Arsenal’s Caitlin Foord, who managed to pull out from the left and look for a finish. Schüller and Kumagai had to make several saves on the line (61′, 69′). At least that’s what it looked like at first glance, after the game it was clear in the press conference that goal line technology was not used in this game, as it is not OBLIGATORY. VAR are making their Women’s Champions League debut this season.
In the closing stages, Lea Schüller had to be substituted, replaced by Jovana Damnjanović, and Arsenal were no longer able to get in front of the opposing goal so easily. A secondary problem of the match was referee Ivana Projkovska, who failed to warn of several serious fouls. In the end, the Bayern Munich players were visibly exhausted, but brought the narrow result over time. Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall was delighted with his side’s performance after the game, but angry as he thought VAR should have awarded two penalties at the latest. It was, among other things, a handball.
