Mikel Arteta and Thomas Tuchel were both asked what decides high-profile knockout matches ahead of Arsenal’s second leg against Bayern Munich. Their answer was the same: “moments”.
After 180 hotly contested minutes, the reason Bayern are looking forward to a semi-final against Real Madrid in three weeks is because they won theirs. Arsenal did not.
It is conceivable that they could have been out of sight in the first leg if Ben White had missed his chance to make it 2-0. Instead, they were caught out moments later when Serge Gnabry punished the most minor of David Raya’s headers by finishing a clinical move. Also in the second leg, Gabriel Martinelli could have beaten them after finding himself free in the Bayern area. Instead, Joshua Kimmich seized Bayern’s only real major chance of the evening, in almost the exact same spot on the pitch, to break the tie. This is the difference between princes and kings on the European scene.
But is it hard to judge Arsenal by Bayern’s standards? As their pre-match anthem “FC Bayern Champions of the World” suggests, Bayern view their presence at this stage of the elite competition almost as a birthright. As intangible as it may seem, there is no substitute for this kind of mindset.
For all their greatness domestically, Arsenal have only made it past the quarter-finals of the Champions League twice in their history. Across their four knockout matches in this season’s competition, that has been demonstrated. the Gunners have failed to produce a single performance close to the supreme levels of confidence that have characterized their Premier League performances in 2024.
That was the advantage highlighted by Tuchel before the match, and something that Arteta believes his team is still lacking.
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“We haven’t played this competition for seven years and we haven’t reached this stage for 14 years,” he said after the match. ” There is a reason for this. We want to do everything very quickly in one season.
“I think we have the capacity and the quality to be in the semi-finals because the margins are very small. These margins come from something else that we may not have yet. We must learn it. If you look at history, it took other clubs seven, eight or ten years to achieve this.
The Spaniard is right. Arsenal certainly have the quality to reach the latter stages of the Champions League. Borussia Dortmund have reached the last four of the competition this season and few would suggest that the side languishing in fifth place in the Bundesliga are a better team than the Gunners.
What they lack, however, is the self-confidence that comes from having been around the block. This goes for both the manager and the players. There is a strong argument that Arteta’s inability to rotate his team more effectively over the course of the season is why his side have produced energy-deprived second-half performances in back-to-back crucial matches. The Gunners players look tired, but with a more or less fit squad available, there is no real excuse for that.
Perhaps a more clinical presence up front will also give the Gunners the decisiveness they lack in crucial moments. This is definitely a topic they want to address this summer.
As frustrating as it may be in this day and age, it’s worth remembering that there are very few sporting dynasties that have been created without a few near misses along the way. Manchester City took three seasons to win the Premier League after the takeover of Abu Dhabi. Jurgen Klopp took four to win the Champions League with Liverpool.
In their recent Premier League match against Manchester City and these two matches against Bayern, the Gunners proved that they can go the distance with the European heavyweights. But when it comes to delivering the final blow, they always fall short.
But with the progress Arteta has made in north London, there is no doubt they will reach those heights again next season. When they do, they will be a year older and a year wiser. This is what could finally swing the key moments of a campaign in their favor.
