Bayern Munich vs Arsenal (agg 2-2) – Champions League quarter-final: Live score, team news and updates as Gunners look to bounce back from slip-up against Aston Villa

Thomas Tuchel, Bayern Munich boss, speaking on Tuesday:

We have a slight advantage when you look at our experience in this competition, but to turn it into a real advantage, you also need a top performance. We’re ready to give it everything we’ve got.

We’ll need everything again. We’ll need passion and the same tactical discipline as in the first leg. We really want to win this game. It’ll be extremely important that every fan comes to support and push us.

They play a very attractive brand of football at the highest level. We did well in the first leg, but we’re only halfway through the tie. We need everything again and hope that playing at home will give us the boost we need.

I can’t believe it’s already been a week!

Arsenal and Bayern served us up a treat last week. The game had everything, four goals, penalty drama, turnarounds – it was brilliant.

The Gunners have Leandro Trossard to thank for why they go to Munich on terms.

Arsenal started as they always do, on the front foot, and Bukayo Saka sent the Emirates into chaos with an early goal.

However, Bayern hit them with a quickfire double through Serge Gnabry and Harry Kane to burst their bubble.

The Gunners struggled after that, but the man for the big occasions, Trosaard, spared their blushes and sent them to Germany with something to fight for.

If we get another game like this I will have a beaming smile on my face.

What a beautiful stadium the Allianz Arena is.

In just over two hours it will be at full capacity and the nerves will be jangling in both the home and away end.

I’m anticipating there to be an exceptional atmosphere tonight, but it may have the life sucked out of it if Arsenal romp to victory.

I simply have to mention the chaos at the end of last week’s tie.

The scenes that engulfed the Emirates upon the full-time whistle last week were ones of rage at the referee.

Why you ask? Well, that’s an easy question to answer.

It all started when Bukayo Saka was wiped out by Manuel Neuer in the dying embers of the match.

Upon first viewing, it looked like a stonewall penalty, but after watching it more and more, the debate started on whether Saka leaped in the direction of Neuer.

That’s the view the referee took as he waved play on, which led to minutes of protests from the Arsenal side.

Personally, I think he got it right, however, will Arsenal look back on that moment if they fail to progress this evening.

In all honesty, I still don’t know why Saka didn’t just carry on and put it in the net…

Many people, including myself, don’t believe Arsenal’s season will unravel like this time last year.

However, Sunday’s disastrous defeat has cast doubt into people’s minds as to if they will crumble once again.

Tonight they have the chance to prove those who doubt them wrong. If they win, they’ll certainly do that.

If they lose, the ghosts of years gone by will have well and truly entered their psyche.

Can they banish them this evening?

Mikel Arteta, Arsenal boss, speaking on Tuesday:

A performance puts us in the Champions League semi-final. All the preparation has been to achieve that. We have earned it. We have earned it for ten months and everything we did last season, to start our journey in the Champions League after so many years.

Tomorrow we have an unbelievable opportunity to make it happen. Regardless of that result against Villa, it is going to have no impact on what’s going to happen here.

Refocus and start to build the confidence, trust, and understanding for the performance that we are going to have to put in to beat them and go through in the tie.

I’m sorry Arsenal fans, you’re playing away at Bayern Munich, I have to mention it.

The Allianz Arena has not been a happy hunting ground for Arsenal over the years.

The Gunners’ last two visits to Bavaria have resulted in humiliating 5-1 defeats. They have also won just one of their six away games against Bayern in the Champions League, losing four.

I’m sure these statistics don’t ease your nerves, Arsenal fans.

Harry Kane, Bayern Munich striker, speaking on Tuesday:

Yeah, for sure [it is unfinished business], whenever you reach the final of a competition and don’t quite get over the line there’s always that burning fire inside you to get back there and go that one step further.

We have an opportunity this year and with a big moment tomorrow. It is no secret here that the club set out to win the Champions League every season, so there is an expectation.

I have a lot of history with Arsenal, playing for Spurs for so many years, that north London derby was probably the biggest game of the season every year in the Premier League But for me, here, it’s a different chapter. Of course, I know there will be a lot of Spurs fans watching tomorrow, hoping that Bayern go through, but I can’t focus on that.

Yes, I know, football isn’t won on pre-match statistics, but this should give Arsenal fans some hope.

Bayern Munich have not had the best record in Champions League quarter-finals in recent seasons.

They have been eliminated at this stage in each of the past three seasons to PSG in 2020-21, Villarreal in 2021-22, and Manchester City in 2022-23.

If Arsenal are victorious tonight Bayern will become the second club to be eliminated in the Champions League quarter-finals in four consecutive seasons, after PSG from 2012-13 to 2015-16.

I always say though, stats are there to be broken.

While the spotlight will predominantly be on Arsenal tonight, don’t get it mistaken, it’s a huge night for Bayern Munich too.

The Bavarians finally relinquished their stranglehold on the Bundesliga at the weekend after Bayer Leverkusen’s 5-0 victory won them the title.

That means the Champions League is their final chance to win silverware this season. Imagine Bayern going trophyless?

The pressure is truly on them tonight, for a club of their magnitude to go a whole season without silverware is unthinkable, but this campaign it is more than likely.

There is so much at stake for both clubs tonight, it’s simply brilliant, well, if you’re neutral anyway.

Tonight feels huge for this Arsenal side.

After the deflation of their 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa at the weekend, which gave the initiative to Manchester City in the title race, the pressure on them has ramped up to another level.

It’s fair to say, the Gunners were miles from their best in the first leg, it looked the the enormity of the occasion got to them. They can’t let that happen tonight.

Comparing both of the seasons that Arsenal and Bayern Munich have had respectively, Arsenal should be the favorites tonight.

However, their last two performances have thrown caution into the wind and it feels like Bayern are in the better position to progress tonight.

Even with all that though, this match is such a hard one to call, you can almost forget the first leg after it finished all square.

It all comes down to tonight, do Arsenal have the mettle?

Nights like these are what football fans live for.

It will be an evening full of anticipation, nerves, euphoria, and maybe even misery – a cocktail of emotions that make the Champions League so special.

It’s crunch time for Arsenal. Tonight, they can make another gigantic step on their journey under Mikel Arteta and qualify for a Champions League semi-final.

In their way, Bayern Munich. They’ve been there before, many times, but do their current crop of players have what it takes to take down one of Europe’s current top sides?

Harry Kane will certainly want to have his say like he did in the first leg and Tottenham fans will certainly want him to destroy their bitter rivals’ dreams.

After typing all that, my excitement has ramped up two-fold. It’s time to get your seatbelts on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride, especially if you’re an Arsenal fan.

Let’s get cracking!