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| Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger addresses the media at Allianz Arena in Munich ahead of the Champions League round of 16 second leg match in Munich,. Photograph: Lennart |
Ajax managed it against Panathinaikos in 1996 and Internazionale did it against Bayern Munich in 2011.
No team, however, has ever managed it from a
two-goal deficit – never mind trying to do so against the five-time
champions, currently steamrollering everyone in sight.
Where to start with Arsenal’s opponents? The
Bundesliga, perhaps, where they have won 22 of their 24 games, drawn the
other two and could conceivably wrap up another title by the end of
March.
Bayern have scored 24 times in their last five
matches in Germany. They are 20 points clear, with a goal difference of
+61, and it is almost 18 months since they lost a domestic game at the
Allianz Arena.
Pep Guardiola’s side are unbeaten in 49
Bundesliga fixtures, on a 16-game winning streak, and Manuel Neuer has
conceded only three goals in 2014.
For Arsenal to to have any chance of succeeding
they need two things. First, one of the more coherent performances any
Wenger side has put together in the modern era.
In that case, Wenger said, “it is possible,
that is the most important thing. I believe that my team has quality and
ambition. We can do it.”
Yet the second point is that, even playing at
the point of maximum expression, Arsenal will need Bayern to lapse into
the carelessness evident when Wenger’s team won 2-0 in Munich last
season.
Bayern, with a 3-1 lead from the first leg,
were guilty of some rare complacency that night and it was the same
again when they let a two-goal lead slip against Manchester City in the
group stages this season, losing 3-2.
“We got a bit complacent because we had grown so used to winning,” Thomas Muller said. “That was a warning to us.”
The problem for Arsenal is a team of Bayern’s knowhow and experience are unlikely to make the same mistake again.
Guardiola issued exactly the same warning and,
though Wenger sounded like he meant absolutely everything he said, it
was not altogether convincing that he had to go back over 10 years to
argue his point.
Patient
“The statistics are against us but we won 5-1 against Inter at San Siro [in November 2003],” Wenger said. “I would also say we have won everywhere in Europe. We scored two goals in the last five minutes against Everton [on Saturday]so we don’t have to be nervous. We can be patient. We just have to focus on the quality of our game.”
Patient
“The statistics are against us but we won 5-1 against Inter at San Siro [in November 2003],” Wenger said. “I would also say we have won everywhere in Europe. We scored two goals in the last five minutes against Everton [on Saturday]so we don’t have to be nervous. We can be patient. We just have to focus on the quality of our game.”
Wenger has to make his players believe this is
not Mission Impossible but Inter finished fourth in Serie A that season,
23 points off the top, and did not make it out of the group stages of
the Champions League. That was the year of Arsenal’s Invincibles, with a
front three in San Siro of Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Kanu.
