After playing against Tottenham, Arsenal had ten days to prepare for the second round against Bayern.
One thing to say is that although Arsenal won the first round, in terms of overall strength, Bayern clearly had the advantage. After all, they actually scored three goals in the away game, and finally lost because of a buzzer beater.
After returning to the home court, they only need a small win of 1-0 to advance through the away goal advantage. It's hard to say whose side the initiative will be.
What you don't have to think about is that this time Alexander has definitely been put under the microscope by Bayern so many times that the defenders want to vomit. It is obviously unrealistic to want to win as unexpectedly as in the last game.
Only head-on confrontation.
But what gives Wenger a headache is that this kid has been acting very wrong in recent training matches, and he has completely lost the vigor he showed some time ago.
There is a saying, even in football games, characters often appear to be different from one another, let alone real people. Wenger is mentally prepared for this situation. Three games later, it happened to be that he withered in this key battle.
What made him feel even more unhappy was that Wilshere was injured in training. According to the team doctor, he would definitely not be able to make it to this game.
"It's really a headache..."
Wenger pulled his hair in distress on the sidelines.
His frowning face looked more and more like Mr. Bean. Alexander wanted to laugh every time he looked at it, which made the professor confused and soon became angry.
You are in such a bad state, how can you still laugh?
Of course he doesn't know that this guy now has a characteristic called "Mr. Big Scene". The more this kind of competition, the more exciting he will be, and the state in training cannot be accurate.
"Alexander, come here!"
"What's the matter, boss?"
"Did you go fooling around somewhere last night?"
"Fooling around? No."
"Then why is your condition so bad?"
"Is there a possibility that it's because other people are in such good shape that I, who seems to be in normal condition, become particularly hot-headed?"
"is that so?"
"Probably so."
"hope so..."
Although he knew he was talking nonsense, the professor still felt better, but Giroud, who had just scored three goals in a row with his head and kick in the match, didn't feel very good.
What's the meaning?
My feet feel so hot, do I still have to be a substitute?
As if sensing his resentment, Alexander gave him a strange look.
What, do you still want to start?
…
Before Arsenal travels to Germany, the other four quarter-final matchups have already begun.
Juventus defeated Celtic 2-0 and advanced 5-0 in two rounds;
Paris Saint-Germain played Valencia 1-1 at home and entered the quarter-finals with a total score of 3-2;
Dortmund defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 and became the third advancer 5-2 in two rounds.
Finally, the focus is Manchester United VS Real Madrid.
Whether it was Cristiano Ronaldo returning to the Dream Theater to face his old club, or Giggs ushering in the 1,000th milestone game of his career, this matchup became extraordinary.
In the game, the two sides first tied 1-1. In the end, Higuain assisted Ronaldo and scored the winning goal. Real Madrid narrowly eliminated Manchester United with a total score of 3-2 and became one of the top eight in the Champions League this season.
Cristiano Ronaldo also continues to lead the Champions League scorer list with 8 goals in 8 games.
Then came the remaining four groups of games.
Malaga VS Porto, Bayern Munich VS Arsenal, Schalke 04 VS Galatasaray, Barcelona VS AC Milan.
There is no doubt that Bayern vs. Gunners and Barcelona vs. Milan received the most attention.
Bayern fell behind 3-4 in the first round and will definitely try their best when they return to home. Barcelona also lost 0-2 away to Milan in the first round. They will definitely launch a desperate counterattack after returning to Camp Nou in this game.
What confuses the fans is that these two games start at the same time, so everyone can only choose one of the two or skip to watch.
This is Alexander's first time coming to Germany, but he comes as the least popular character among Germans.
To exaggerate, everyone in Munich regards him as their number one enemy.
The streets are full of Bayern fans, and wherever the bus passes, middle fingers can be seen everywhere.
Wenger was afraid that this little kid wouldn't be able to stand this battle, so he specially arranged a side task for the old Jianghu Rosicky in the team, asking him to help Alexander make psychological adjustments. However, seeing Alexander's high spirits, Rosicky didn't even bother to do anything for a long time. Can hold back a sentence.
Entering the hotel, resting, training, resting, secretly playing games, adapting to the venue, and pre-match press conference, everything went smoothly. Bayern did not cause any problems such as water and power outages or sending hot girls to provide door-to-door services in the middle of the night. External recruitment, the competition officially begins on the third day.
Alexander, who had always pretended to be calm, now looked a little like a fledgling.
It's the Allianz Arena after all…
Even if you visit here as a fan, you will inevitably feel a little excited, let alone coming here as an opponent to play in the Champions League knockout rounds.
After warming up, we walked back to the locker room. Everyone was quiet during the whole process, which was in sharp contrast to the noisy stands, as if there was an invisible pressure hanging on everyone.
Wenger has stopped saying anything about tactics because there is too much to say these days.
He just looked at his disciples and said calmly: "We only need a draw to advance, But that is not Arsenal's football philosophy, so you should know what to do."
"Attack! Attack! Attack!"
"Bring victory back to London!"
"Arsenal lost twice in Munich's history, and even the last time they won in Germany was back in 2006 against Hamburg. Bayern's 16 home games against English teams in history have resulted in 10 wins, 5 draws and 1 loss. Results, the only defeat was the UEFA Cup loss to Norwich City in 1993..."
Bayern Munich put out their strongest lineup, with Robery co-starring. Dante, who injured himself after fouling Alexander in the last game, sat on the bench.
For Arsenal, Rosicky replaced the injured Wilshere, Gibbs and Fabianski returned from injury, and Koscielny replaced Vermaelen.
The starting lineup for both sides is as follows.
Bayern Munich 4-2-3-1.
Goalkeeper: 1- Neuer;
Defenders: 21-Lahm, 17-Boateng, 5-Van Buyten, 27-Alaba;
Midfielder: 8-Javi Martinez, 30-Gustavo;
Midfielder: 7-Ribery, 39-Kros, 10-Robben;
Forward: 9-Mandzukic.
Arsenal also have exactly the same single striker formation.
Goalkeeper: 21-Fabianski;
Defenders: 25-Jenkinson, 4-Pertesacker, 6-Koscielny, 28-Gibbs;
Midfielder: 16-Ramsey, 8-Arteta;
Midfielder: 14-Walcott, 7-Rosicky, 9-Podolski;
Forward: 11-Alexander. "
"The referee blew the whistle and the game started."