It was a tough fight against Arsenal FC, a great effort of will – but in the end Bayern Munich deservedly reached the semi-finals of the Champions League thanks to “header monster” Joshua Kimmich.
Kimmich, who has been active again for Munich and for the German national team as a right-back for a few weeks, scored on Wednesday evening (April 17, 2024) in the 63rd minute for a 1-0 win, which follows the 2-2 draw in the first leg a week ago Moving into the top four in Europe means.
Tuchel celebrates the second half
“Excellent, we really deserved it in the second half,” said match winner Kimmich after the final whistle at DAZN, celebrating their progress. “Arsenal controlled the game at the beginning, but after the substitution we had the better chances. Luckily, when I scored, nobody really felt responsible for me.”
Coach Thomas Tuchel said that the triumph meant “a lot” to him. “The semi-finals are an important step. The last four, that was fun.” The first half was “a bit of a chess game,” said Tuchel. “I saw us extremely strong in the second half. We showed a bit more personality, more courage.”
The coach did without veteran Thomas Müller in the second leg for tactical reasons. So he still has to wait for his 150th premier class game. But he received a promise from Tuchel: “Now there are two more, then he’ll get it.” And maybe there are even three more.
Pressure was clearly felt
Thomas Tuchel’s team noticed from kick-off that this game in the premier class was Bayern’s only remaining chance of winning the title. Although the Munich team were also missing a number of top players such as Serge Gnabry, Alphonso Davies and Kingsley Coman, the performance still seemed to be under a heavy burden for a long time, downright inhibited and also completely different in terms of body language than in the first leg, which was rousing for a long time.
Bayern were pushed astonishingly far into the defensive, even had less possession of the ball at the break than Arsenal (47 percent) and were also behind in shots on goal with 4:6. However, neither Manuel Neuer nor visiting goalkeeper David Raya had to deal with real stress tests in the first half.
Only Mazraoui and Musiala threaten to score
Noussair Mazraoui created the biggest chance in the 23rd minute after he went through on the left almost to the baseline. His shot from a tight angle was deflected and just missed the right post. Immediately afterwards, Jamal Musiala tried powerfully from a distance, as did Martin Odegaard five minutes later on the other side – but the goalkeepers remained in control of the situation.
After half an hour, the Bayern defense, which had been very focused until then, was collectively too far away from the opponents, but Gabriel Martinelli delivered the brilliant Odegaard pass from a central position straight into the arms of Neuer.
Goretzka hits the crossbar
What was noticeable on both sides was the extensive lack of opportunities: Leroy Sané and Bukayo Saka, two protagonists from the first leg, were completely unregistered until the break. It was noticeable that Sané went into the game feeling under the weather. The right winger did another stress test before the restart in the second half, but fought through it and stayed on the pitch for the time being.
This willpower was indicative of a different face that Bayern now showed; the entire performance suddenly seemed more determined. In the 47th minute, Joshua Kimmich crossed precisely from the right, Leon Goretzka got into position in the shadow of Harry Kane and headed the ball onto the crossbar.
Kimmich hits his head
As a result, the Munich team regained the midfield, Goretzka and Konrad Laimer were now more robust in the duels and boosted the offensive game. After an hour, Sané broke through on the right after a courageous ball presentation from Laimer, and Raya unfortunately directed his cross to Raphael Guerreiro. The ex-Dortmunder spooned the ball back towards the center, where Kimmich broke away from Martinelli and rammed the ball into the net in the best center forward style.
After that, Bayern continued to show enormous stability, hardly allowing anything to happen and repeatedly having counterattack opportunities from which more could have been achieved. However, the final pass often lacked accuracy, and the Gunners seemed to know how to largely neutralize Kane from their many years in the Premier League. On the other side, only Odegaard managed a dangerous shot shortly before the end, but Neuer directed his low shot past the post.