3 hours ago
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Arsenal needed a performance and a result against a European powerhouse, their form in theWomen’s Super League letting them down, but Renée Slegers’s side relinquished their 2-0 advantage and all three points to Bayern Munich far too easily, plunging their Champions League defence into tricky waters.
Last season, a battling comeback from 2-1 down to a 3-2 victory over Bayern in their final group game avenged their opening 5-2 loss to the Bavarian side and kickstarted their phenomenal run to the final. It marked a turning point in their season, demonstrating a mental toughness that carried them to a second Champions League title. Their collapse here showed they are yet to recapture the spirit that ensured success in May.
More than 400 Arsenal fans had made the trip to Munich, many filing into the Hofbräuhaus, the city’s famous beer hall, before the game for their pre-match meet-up. They were shoved into a corner of the middle tier at the Allianz Arena, but still made their voices heard, battling against the impressive home crowd of over 15,000 that brought the noise in the lower tier.
Daphne van Domselaar, the Arsenal goalkeeper, had said her team had “showed everything we had” in their 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Saturday. They were “devastated” by the result against the WSL champions and leaders, questionable refereeing decisions bearing the brunt of those frustrations.
The aim, though, was to take the energy of that impressive second-half display to Germany with them. Arsenal had started slowly against Chelsea. In Munich they stuck to the plan and there was no repeat of that sluggish beginning.
They opened on the front foot. Beth Mead was particularly energetic and caused the Bayern full-back Franziska Kett and the midfielder Momoko Tanikawa problems on the right as Arsenal’s high and aggressive pressing reaped its rewards.
It was Mead’s effort that ensured Arsenal took the lead in the fifth minute, the England forward’s shot strangely pushed away, rather than held, by the Bayern goalkeeper, Maria Luisa Grohs. Fox was there to nod the ball back over the keeper and in.
Arsenal’s second goal arrived midway through the half. Bayern’s determination to play out from the back had been risky and was exploited. Mead intercepted Stine Ballisager’s stray pass and laid off the ball to Stina Blackstenius, who poked it towards Mariona Caldentey on the edge of the box. The mercurial midfielder took a touch to alleviate pressure from Tanikawa before lashing past Grohs.
The energy lessened a little in the second half. José Barcala turned to his bench to try to get his team back into the game: the former Chelsea forward Pernille Harder, whose hat-trick in October 2024 took the game from 2-2 to 5-2, came on and Arianna Caruso and Alara Sehitler arrived soon after. The last of these would make Arsenal sweat first, flying away on the break and collecting from Klara Bühl before guiding the ball past Van Domselaar.
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It was Bayern in the ascendancy after the deficit was reduced, the hosts sensing they could take something from the game. Harder delivered, clipping a looping ball in from the edge of the area to level. They did not just want to take something, though: they wanted it all, and six minutes later they had the lead, Glodis Viggosdottir turning in at the near post from Bühl’s cross. This time it was a sluggish end that let down Arsenal and, with one win from three Champions League games, they have a big job ahead.
