Arsenal vs Bayern and Real Madrid vs Man City: Champions League Quarterfinals 2023-24
Arsenal managed to secure a crucial 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals, thanks to Leandro Trossard’s second-half equalizer.
On his return to north London, Harry Kane scored his usual goal against Arsenal, but Bayern Munich was unable to win this time.
In the 76th minute, Trossard scored a low shot to negate Kane’s penalty from the first half, leveling the scores ahead of next week’s second leg.
“The game was challenging. Naturally, we are never satisfied when we lose,” stated Kane, who has now scored 15 goals against Arsenal in his career and a competition-high seven goals in the Champions League this year.
The hosts led 1-0 in the 12th minute thanks to a goal from Bukayo Saka, and they controlled the first 18 minutes until a mistake by defender Gabriel allowed former Arsenal midfielder Serge Gnabry to tie the score at one.
After Gabriel Jesus set up Trossard in the area, two Arsenal substitutes combined to equalize, but Kane gave Bayern the lead again from the penalty spot in the 25th.
“We had a great start. After taking the lead, we could have scored two or three goals,” stated Trossard. “You can see how talented Bayern Munich is to cause us harm.”
The previous time these two clubs faced off, in the round of 16, in 2017, Bayern defeated Arsenal 10-2 overall following two 5-1 victories. Though Bayern is suffering its worst Bundesliga season in almost a decade and has lost the title battle to Bayer Leverkusen, there was a feeling that things would be significantly different this time. Arsenal is now leading the Premier League.
But before joining the German superpower this season, Kane set a record with 14 goals in north London derbies between Tottenham and Arsenal. He ensured that Bayern will travel back to Germany with a little lead when they play the second leg at home on Wednesday.
Saka’s penalty claim was denied in the fifth minute of stoppage time, and Kingsley Coman missed a close-range flick-on that would have given Bayern the lead in the ninetieth minute.
Despite an apparent terror threat from the Islamic State targeting Champions League matches this week, the game proceeded as planned, and there were no issues at the Emirates either before or during the play.
Due to a UEFA fine against the club, Bayern was forced to play without any away fans in the stadium, meaning Arsenal was allowed to fill all 60,000 seats with home supporters and still draw. And following Arsenal’s impressive start, the crowd was boisterous.
Saka scored the first goal after Ben White set him up inside the area. The England winger slid a low effort past two defenders and inside the far post, past Manuel Neuer, who was scrambling to stop it.
In the 16th, White had a fantastic opportunity to increase the advantage after Kai Havertz put the defender in the area and Bayern failed to clear the ball, but his shot was straight at Neuer. The equalizer came shortly after, thanks to a careless error by Arsenal.
In order to allow Bayern to react quickly, Gabriel turned the ball over in midfield. Leon Goretzka then slipped the ball through for Gnabry to enter and slot the ball past goalkeeper David Raya.
After William Saliba tripped Leroy Sane in the box, Bayern was given the penalties. Kane, who was met with boos each time he touched the ball, sent Raya the wrong way before curling the ball into the right corner.
The manager of Arsenal, Mikel Arteta, stated, “You cannot give anything to the opponent in the Champions League.” “Today, we set them two objectives.”
In the round of 16, Raya stopped two penalties in a shootout against Porto, which provided Kane with a ton of material to analyze prior to the match.
Regarding Raya, Kane remarked, “It was one of them where I have done a bit of research of his games against Porto.” “Seeing him leave early and make things easier for me was nice.”
Even after Trossard’s equalizer, there was late drama when Saka crashed into the goalkeeper and went down after missing a chance to round Neuer deep into stoppage time. Play was allowed to continue by referee Glenn Nyberg, although replays revealed Saka may have extended his leg to make contact.
Thomas Tuchel, the coach of Bayern, was furious that his team was not awarded a second penalty for handball when Raya gave Gabriel a short goal kick, which he strangely retook.
According to Tuchel, Nyberg informed his team that Gabriel’s error was “just a kid’s mistake” and that there would be no penalty given in the Champions League quarterfinal.
Tuchel remarked, “This is a horrible, horrible explanation.”
Real Madrid vs Manchester City 3-3
In a wild Champions League quarterfinal match played beneath the dome of the Bernabeu stadium on Tuesday, Real Madrid and Manchester City battled to a thrilling 3-3 draw that left the match between the final two trophy holders wide open for the second leg.
After the hosts took a 3-2 lead in the Spanish capital thanks to goals from Rodrygo and an own goal by Ruben Dias, Phil Foden, and Josko Gvardiol, Federico Valverde rallied Real Madrid for a late tie.
“With two teams attacking, it was a fun game that elevates the competitiveness. The three goals in the second half were amazing. We had the advantage, but they tied the score—that’s football,” remarked Pep Guardiola, the manager of City.
After two minutes, City midfielder Bernardo Silva startled the boisterous home crowd by taking advantage of a one-man wall to drill a low free kick from 40 meters well inside Andriy Lunin’s post to give the visitors the lead.
The Ukrainian seems to have been looking for a cross and made a schoolboy mistake by leaving his right flank exposed. Even with his hand on the ball, he was unable to hold it out.
Even worse, Real midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni—who was filling in for an injured Jack Grealish—was given a yellow card for the foul that resulted in the goal and will miss the second leg in Manchester on Wednesday.
Due to illness, midfielder Kevin De Bruyne was substituted, thus City attempted to capitalize on Real’s careless start and had the opportunity to take the lead.
But Lunin denied Erling Haaland before Grealish’s attempt was stopped, and Haaland was unable to score from the rebound, causing City to lament their wasted opportunities.
After 12 minutes, Eduardo Camavinga quickly contributed to tying the score when, after deceiving goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, his long-range effort deflected off defender Dias for an own goal.
After two minutes, the hosts took the lead thanks to a poor attempt from Rodrygo that was deflected off Manuel Akanji’s heel by a superb through ball from Vinicius Jr.
Real was in the lead and ought to have extended it, but they wasted too much. Late in the first half, Vinicius struck a close-range shot over the crossbar, and Rodrygo missed two chances from the edge of the box.
However, the visitors equalized in the 66th minute through a spectacular Foden strike into the top corner, and they took the lead five minutes later when Gvardiol scored his maiden goal for City in a similar fashion. Real appeared set to score a third.
But Real was not going to be defeated, and in the 79th minute, Valverde delivered an incredible volley to salvage a point on yet another thrilling Champions League night, leaving the supporters clamoring for more in the following week’s second leg in Manchester.
“We wanted to win and go into the second leg with an advantage, but we conceded goals that should not have happened,” Rodrygo stated to Movistar Plus.
“I believe we could have performed better. We needed to take control of the game, but we were unable to do so. But we have to accept the situation as it is and apply more emphasis to the second leg.
“The tie is wide open and we will go there to make the most of the chances we create.”
For the third consecutive year, the teams squared off in a Champions League knockout tie, and it was another thrilling match.
