Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola wary of Arsenal threat
Pep Guardiola has warned his side that it will be no easy task keeping Arsenal quiet as Bayern Munich aim to reach quarter-finals
Pep Guardiola has warned his side that it will be no easy task keeping Arsenal quiet as Bayern Munich aim to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
The Gunners head to the Allianz Arena on the back of a 2-0 loss to the Bundesliga side at Emirates Stadium, meaning that they must become only the third team to overturn a first-leg home defeat.
If Arsenal have the ball, they will be in the quarter-final
Pep Guardiola
However, despite their advantage heading into the last-16 second-leg tie, Guardiola is expecting a difficult test against the Gunners.
“If we let Arsenal keep the ball, we will have a lot of problems,” Guardiola said.
“They have a lot of quality, every single player has unbelievable technical skills with the ball. They have players like [Santi] Cazorla, [Mesut] Ozil, [Tomas] Rosicky and [Mikel] Arteta – it is no problem for them to keep the ball in their lines.
“So the only way to avoid that is to keep the ball for ourselves – and obviously we have to be aggressive. What I noticed about my team was that we are at our best when we just think about attacking.
“If we start to speculate and think about what we may have done wrong in London, then they have a good chance to win and we won’t go through to the quarter-final.
“I know Arsenal very well, I played two times against them with Barcelona. I know their coach. If we have the ball, we will be in the next round. If Arsenal have the ball, they will be in the quarter-final.”
Bayern Munich v Arsenal: Pre-match facts
• Bayern were seven points clear at the Bundesliga summit at the start of 2014 – their lead is now 20.
• Jack Wilshere’s opener against Marseille on matchday five was, at 29.56 seconds, the fastest goal ever by an Englishman in the Champions League.
• This is Arsenal’s 16th successive Champions League campaign; they have advanced from the autumn group stage in the last 14.
• Arsenal’s last success at this stage came in 2010 when they recovered from a 2-1 defeat at Porto to win 5-0 in London.
