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Bayern And Porto Rise; More Trouble For Arsenal

Henry Foster Rubenstein |
February 19, 2013 | 9:06 p.m. PST

Staff Writer

Lahm and his fellow defenders stifled the Gunners all night in the Emirates. (az1172/Creative Commons)
Lahm and his fellow defenders stifled the Gunners all night in the Emirates. (az1172/Creative Commons)
Arsenal dug themselves a deeper hole as they fell 3-1 to Bayern Munich and FC Porto defeated Malaga 1-0 in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon. The loss came as a huge disappointment for the Gunners, as they were also knocked out of the FA Cup over the weekend by Blackburn. Munich now sits atop Arsenal on aggregate with three away goals under their belt. Unlike Arsenal, Porto was able to feed off their home crowd and dominate Malaga with sharp defending and a lone goal that undersells the opportunities Porto had to run away with the match.

In North London, the score read it was an all Bayern Munich show, but this match could have gone either way. Arsenal opened with strong possession, but quickly realized why Bayern are the Bundesliga leaders. Run after run, the Arsenal forwards were met by Germany’s elite defense, led by international star and captain Phillip Lahm. The Gunners are known for their craftiness around the ball, being able to work it through tight spaces to cleanly find the goal, but in the first half it seemed their touches were only finding German feet when trying to penetrate on offense. Bayern began their performance at the Emirates early as Toni Kroos ripped a dipping volley past the diving Wojciech Szczesny in the seventh minute. It seemed inevitable that the Germans were going to have their way in London when Thomas Muller found the back of the net off a rebound on a corner kick in the 21st minute. Heading into the locker room at the break. it appeared the crowd had been painted Bayern red.

If anyone knows a thing about Arsenal, it’s that they have the ability to score in spurts and it usually happens right after the half.  The Gunners were inches away from making it happen again, as Lukas Poldoski ignited an Arsenal rally off a header in the 55th minute to bring Arsenal a goal away. The score marked Bayern’s first conceded goal in 660 minutes. The feeling was there, the fans, the announcers, coaches and players all knew what Arsenal had the potential to transpire. Jack Wilshere was looking in top form, playing beautifully on both sides of the ball, but only to be left goalless. The Gunners thought the moment had come when Olivier Giroud blasted one point blank off the hands on Munich keeper Manual Neur. But the moment was never coming as Mario Mandzukic sent home Bayern’s third goal in the 77th minute off a ricochet between him and Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna on the goal line.  When Arsene Wenger takes his side to Munich in March, they will sure have their work cut for them. Trailing by two on aggregate, the Gunners will need to score at least three goals to advance against a team who allows one every 10 games. Who knows which Gunner squad will show up -- it could be a classic, or it could be another sore site for Arsenal fans.

Porto versus Malaga was the least anticipated of the two and was considerably less exciting. Malaga played very uncharacteristically, generating two shots and allowing 18. The defeat was Malaga’s first in their inaugural Champions League campaign, in which they have defeated AC Milan and Zenit St. Petersburg. Though they appreciate the win moving forward, the Portuguese side was hoping to be taking a bigger advantage with them when they head to Andalusia in March. Porto dominated both halves of the game, controlling possession 63 percent to 37 percent. Despite generating countless of opportunities to score, Porto failed to find the back of the net until Joao Moutinho drilled one home in the 55th minute off a crisp pass from Portuguese international Alex Sandro.  Malaga showed sporadic signs of life throughout the gam, but only once did it warrant serious attention from Porto. Down a goal, Malaga should in no way be considered out of this match despite their lackluster performance Tuesday. Expect the energy of their home crowd to give them the extra boost they’ll need to pull off a result against Porto.  A big performance from the Spanish side’s keeper Caballero will carry into the forwards, giving Julio Baptista and Roque Santa Cruz the space they need to capitalize.

Tomorrow’s matches have a lot to look forward to as Barcelona meets AC Milan and Galatasaray steps up against Schalke. I’m predicting that Barcelona is going to be too much for the Italian side.   Anticipate them to handle Milan with precision passing, possession and the boot of Lionel Messi. Look for Schalke to come out strong tomorrow as away goals could be a deciding factor in this close matchup. 

Reach Staff Writer Henry Foster Rubenstein here.



 

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