Arsenal FC's UEFA Champions League challenge has ended in the round of 16 in the last two seasons and as they prepare to take on FC Bayern München they will be determined not to repeat the mistakes of a year ago.
In the 2011/12 round of 16, the London club suffered a 4-0 first-leg reverse at AC Milan. Though they staged a spirited home comeback, they had left themselves too much to do and bowed out 4-3 on aggregate.
Previous meetingsThe teams met at this stage in 2004/05, Bayern establishing a 3-1 lead in the home leg with Claudio Pizarro scoring their first two goals. It was enough to take them through despite Arsenal's 1-0 win in the return.
The lineups at Highbury on 9 March 2005 were:
Arsenal: Lehmann, Lauren, Senderos, Touré, Cole, Vieira, Ljungberg (Van Persie 80), Flamini (Fàbregas 63), Reyes (Pirès 63), Bergkamp, Henry.
Bayern: Kahn, Sagnol, Lúcio, Kovač, Demichelis, Lizarazu, Ballack, Salihamidžić (Hargreaves 90), Deisler (Zé Roberto 73), Pizarro, Guerrero (Linke 85).
Four years previously the teams met in the second group stage when Bayern again had the upper hand, winning their home game 1-0 after a 2-2 draw in London.
Match background
Arsenal, in the round of 16 for the 13th successive season, are seeking a quarter-final place for the first time since 2010 but lost at home to Bundesliga opponents in the group stage. Schalke's 2-0 victory in north London on matchday three ended the Gunners' run of six successive home wins against German visitors and also a sequence of 45 home games unbeaten when facing non-English opponents. Overall Arsenal's home record against German clubs is W9 D1 L2.
Arsène Wenger's team did win their other two group fixtures at the Arsenal Stadium, defeating Olympiacos FC 3-1 and Montpellier Hérault SC 2-0, the latter result confirming progress.
Away from home, the Gunners opened with a 2-1 win at Montpellier but then let slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Schalke before going down 2-1 away to Olympiacos on matchday six.
Bayern, meanwhile, suffered a surprise defeat at FC BATE Borisov on matchday two in Group F, going down 3-1, but then won 1-0 at LOSC Lille meaning a 1-1 draw at Valencia CF on matchday five booked their knockout place.
Bayern won all three games at home, scoring 12 goals in the process. They opened with a 2-1 home win against Valencia, before sweeping aside LOSC 6-1, Pizarro completing a 16-minute hat-trick. BATE were beaten 4-1 in Munich in the concluding fixture.
Arsenal are the third English opponents for Bayern in the last two campaigns. They met Manchester City FC in last season's group stage, winning 2-0 in Munich before losing by the same scoreline away with qualification already assured, and then took on Chelsea FC in the final at their own Fußball Arena München.
Defeat via a penalty shoot-out meant they have come off second best in three European Cup finals against English sides – losing the 1982 and 1999 finals against Aston Villa FC and Manchester United FC respectively. Bayern did beat Leeds United AFC in the 1975 final to claim one of their four European Cup successes.
Their overall record against English teams is W13 D13 L10; away from home it is W2 D7 L6.
Bayern have lost on their last four visits to England and have never won in London in five trips. Aside from their defeat and draw at Arsenal, the Munich club lost 4-2 at Chelsea in the 2004/05 quarter-final first leg and 2-0 at Tottenham Hotspur FC in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup third round, losing both ties; they also drew 1-1 at Tottenham in the 1982/83 European Cup Winners' Cup second round first leg, winning the tie 5-2.
Team ties
Lukas Podolski played for Bayern between 2006 and 2009, scoring 15 goals in 71 league appearances. Either side of that spell he spent a total of six years with 1. FC Köln and in ten games against Bayern was only once on the winning side.
Per Mertesacker scored SV Werder Bremen's goal in a 3-1 home defeat by Bayern on 29 January 2011. After Arjen Robben had equalised, a Mertesacker own goal then put Bayern 2-1 ahead before Miroslav Klose completed the scoring. During his five years with Bremen, Mertesacker faced Bayern 16 times and was only on the winning side twice.
Mertesacker and Pizarro were team-mates at Bremen between 2008 and 2011.
Tomáš Rosický scored 20 goals in 149 Bundesliga appearances for Borussia Dortmund from 2001 to 2006, winning the league title in 2001/02.
Robben scored in Chelsea's 2-0 away win at Arsenal on 18 December 2005. In his three years at Stamford Bridge he faced the Gunners four times and was never on the losing side.
Franck Ribéry plays for France alongside Bacary Sagna, Abou Diaby, Olivier Giroud, Sébastien Squillaci and Laurent Koscielny.
Thomas Müller scored as Germany came from behind to beat France 2-1 in Paris on 6 February, their first victory over Les Bleus since 1987 and their first in France in 78 years. Lahm and Gomez also started for the visitors alongside Podolski, with Toni Kroos coming on in the second half. Ribéry, Sagna, Koscielny and Giroud, a replacement, all featured for France.
Giroud scored for France, who also included Ribéry, in a 2-1 win against Germany in a Bremen friendly on 29 February 2012. Jérôme Boateng and Toni Kroos started for Germany, Gomez and Müller came on in the second half and Manuel Neuer was on the bench.
Aaron Ramsey's Wales lost 2-0 in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Germany who included Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Gomez. Ramsey's current club colleagues Mertesacker and Podolski were also involved in the Cardiff fixture on 1 April 2009.
Expert Edge;Arsenal should win by the slimest of margin.
Source:uefa.com
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