Odulaja Adetayo
With the intimidating records of being the reigning German,
European and World champions, Bayern Munich are fancied by many to become the
first club to successfully defend the trophy in the Champions League era.
Standing against this record is an
Arsenal side who have been inconsistent in recent times. The Gunners have seen
their Premier League title challenge falter with just one win in their last
four outings and have not progressed beyond the last 16 in any of the last
three seasons, Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich however are enjoying a
scintillating run having won 18 of 19 games since early October, the exception being
an ultimately inconsequential 3-2 home defeat to Manchester City in the group
stage.
Coincidentally, the German giant
were the ones who eliminated Arsene Wenger side at this stage of the
competition last season. A result which the Manager insisted changed their
fortunes last season considering how close the ties was when the two teams met
at this stage 12 months ago.
Arsenal French midfielder Mathieu
Flamini is relishing the possibility of an upset believing that his side can
pull off one of the shocks of the season by beating Bayern over two legs in
their imminent Champions League clash. According to him the Londoners are
“ambitious” and are confident of knocking out their illustrious opponents: “We
know it won’t be an easy game because Bayern are a very strong team, but we are
Arsenal, we have big ambitions,” he told the London Evening Standard. “If we
want to qualify, we have to get a good result against Bayern. “This year,
Arsenal have a lot of ambition and are fighting for the league title. We have
qualified in the FA Cup and we will do everything to qualify in the Champions
League.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola in a
statement also recounted his experience at the Emirates, where he has not
recorded a win. He also said he learnt that ''you cannot dominate Arsenal for
90mins, it's impossible.'' - According to ESPN
In matter of hours, we'll see from
which angle the biscuit will break.
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