Just as the game started, there was new movement in the system.
"Main mission three: win the Champions League for the first time"
"Task description: Lead Arsenal to win the first UEFA Champions League title in the club's history."
"Mission difficulty: 6 stars."
"Task reward: unique characteristic*1."
"…" You want me, a newcomer who has just joined for more than a month, to do something that Arsenal has not been able to do in 136 years?
It is indeed very systematic.
Any championship is the product of strength + luck. However, compared to the long league, cup competitions are more random and the chances of upsets are greater. However, there is a limit no matter how big it is. Porto in 2004 is undoubtedly the lower limit. Liverpool, Inter Milan in 2010 and Chelsea in 2012 can only be regarded as mid-cool players at best.
The difficulty for Arsenal to win the championship this year is actually similar to that of Chelsea last year.
A group of old, weak, sick and disabled members of the Blue Army were able to make a comeback when no one was optimistic about them. Why can't I, God's Darling, lead a group of gunners in their prime to create a miracle?
Every young person dreams of growing up with the team, winning the League Cup in the first year, the FA Cup in the second year, the Premier League in the third year, and the Champions League in the fourth year, rising step by step, and in their own way. You get the highest honors when you are the strongest, but the reality is not about fighting monsters and upgrading, and the team's strength is not necessarily getting stronger year by year. If you don't seize the opportunity when it arises, it will be a lifelong regret.
When the top 16 was first announced, the La Liga duo ranked in the top two in the winning odds offered by major betting companies, followed closely by Bayern and Dortmund, and then Manchester United, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. Arsenal's ranking is even lower than that of Shakhtar, ranking ninth.
Now that Manchester United has been eliminated, Barcelona is two goals behind Milan in the first round, Bayern was also defeated by Arsenal in the first round, and the winning odds of each team have changed again.
Real Madrid overthrew Barcelona and ranked first, Dortmund overthrew Bayern and ranked third, while Arsenal moved from ninth to fifth in one breath.
If they can get past Bayern this time, they will undoubtedly become one of the favorites to win the championship, and the Champions League championship will no longer be a dream.
Everyone knows that this level is not easy.
Bayern Munich has two of the most powerful wingers in world football today. The 29-year-old Robben and the 30-year-old Ribery need speed, skill, and experience, and it is obvious that for this In this game, these two fierce players have been recharging their energy for a long time, and now they are waiting for work. They beat Arsenal into danger from the beginning.
Even though the Arsenal guys yelled about the offense loudly in the locker room, they were very honest when it came to fighting, and they unswervingly played defensive counterattacks from the first second.
"Roben is here, but he still can't stop him. Let's see if we can prevent his inward cut… Huh? He went to the bottom line, faked a pass, and passed it diagonally in front of the goal!"
Robben pretended to cut inside, deceived Jenkinson, and then suddenly changed his direction and walked towards the baseline. He also faked a pass from the bottom to deceive Koscielny, dribbled the ball inward along the baseline, and passed the ball near the goal post. Crossed to the door.
Everyone in the audience stood up.
Kroos stepped in from behind and was about to push the ball into the goal. Mertesacker suddenly blocked him with a sliding tackle and narrowly missed the ball.
Arteta, who returned to defend the penalty area, made a big save immediately, and Arsenal narrowly escaped death.
"…It's a pity that the difference was just one centimeter! It was so thrilling. Arsenal had absolutely nothing to do against Robben."
In just the first wave of attacks, Bayern had already made Nana's penalty area go crazy. This undoubtedly gave hope to the fans of the Bundesliga hegemony.
Although the football was kicked out of the penalty area, Arsenal's crisis was not relieved, because Harvey Martinez had already got the ball in the midfield, and Bayern immediately started its second attack.
This time I took the Lahm-Ribery corridor.
Arteta was still in his own penalty area, and it was somewhat difficult to rely on Gibbs to stop the two men's joint attack. Ribery almost sang all the way and dribbled the ball in from the other side of the penalty area.
Robben, who originally wanted to retreat, did not leave now. With Akuwan and Mandzukic, the two sides had almost the same number of people in the Arsenal penalty area.
Several Arsenal offensive midfielders rushed back to the penalty area, but Ribery had already easily passed Mertesacker and volleyed from a small angle on the left!
Ribery played this ball with full confidence, but in the eyes of others it was not actually a good opportunity because Fabianski had blocked almost all angles. In fact, Fabianski even He didn't even have to make a save, the football hit him on the arm.
Just as Mandzukic was about to take a shot, Fabianski dived forward without hesitation and pinned the ball down.
"Ribery dribbled the ball into the penalty area and then hit the goal himself. The football was not received by the goalkeeper. Bayern Munich almost got a dream start."
"Now, look at Arsenal's attack…"
The moment Fabianski took the ball, Arsenal's players immediately pressed forward.
Walcott, Alexander and Cazorla fired three arrows from left, center and right straight into Bayern's penalty area.
Fabianski threw the ball to Ramsey, who immediately used the long pass passed down by the Premier League.
The football passed over his head, Alexander immediately accelerated and successfully countered offside.
Boateng, who was keeping pace with Alexander, then realized that this kid had still retained his strength just now, so he quickly grabbed his forearm and pulled him back hard.
Alexander suddenly exerted force and broke away from Boateng's pull in an instant, but in less than a second, Lahm had already slid over with a diagonal shovel from the side and kicked the ball towards the goal.
Neuer struck quickly, but Alexander did not give up and was still running hard to chase the football.
"Alexander and Neuer! Who can touch the ball first?"
"Neuer touched the football first, and his big foot broke… Huh? Feint?"
Neuer pretended to make a big-footed clearance, and Alexander immediately turned around without hesitation, preparing to block the ball with his body. Unexpectedly, Neuer suddenly dunked the ball to the side, trying to trick him.
The whole world knows that this bitch has the heart of a striker. Alexander was once locked in a small dark room by Wenger and studied the Bayern game video for more than ten days. How could he not be on guard against his move? He bent down and was like a striker. Sweep your legs.
Before Neuer could be happy, the next second his butt came into close contact with the turf.
Ram was already chasing after him, and Alexander didn't even bother to get up. He sat on the ground and kicked the football hard.
The football rolled towards the empty goal, and Lahm chased after it, but before the fans from both sides had time to cheer for the football and Lahm, the whistle sounded.
"Beep!"
The congratulatory committee studio immediately felt sorry for Alexander, "The referee seemed to have called Alexander a foul? Did he kick someone? He should have kicked the ball first, right?"
Kahn, who is working as a commentator for German TV station 2, was heartbroken, "Neuer's old habit has happened again! If he doesn't like using his hands, he can apply to be a forward, instead of using everyone's efforts to satisfy his bad taste! This is simply a crime!"
Lineker, who was responsible for commentating this game on Sky Sports, was naturally on Alexander's side. "Well, congratulations to the referee, he took over the game… Did you see that Lahm has exhausted all his strength?" Although he had strength, he still failed to catch up with the ball. If there had not been this misjudgment, the score on the field should be 0-1 now… Looking at the replay, is there still any doubt? Alexander did not touch Neuer at all…"
In fact, even after watching the replay, this goal is still controversial. Lineker's words are just that the butt determines the head. After all, after Manchester United was eliminated, Arsenal will be the Premier League's only seed in the Champions League this year. If they are also sent away Go, then the Premier League team will miss the quarterfinals for the first time in 17 years.
In fact, the referee didn't see it clearly. He was forced to make blind calls due to the pressure of the home court. So looking at Alexander's almost desperate eyes, he felt somewhat guilty, but he still had to sound tougher, "It's a foul for shoveling, the goal is invalid!" "
"Promise me that you will get a pair of glasses after this game," Alexander sneered, "If you don't have money, I can give it to you. Although it is definitely not as much as what they gave, it should be enough for you to buy a better pair. "
The referee's expression froze and he reached for his pocket, but before he could take it out, he was held down by Walcott who rushed over.
"Hey, he's still a kid…"
Rosicky also ran over, pulled Alexander away, and said, "Okay, calm down!"
"If I didn't calm down, I would have kicked his head off… Damn it! Are you still acting?" The latter sentence was of course addressed to Neuer.
The two of them naturally knew whether Alexander's kick hit the person or the ball first. Neuer didn't just show it to the referee, but he messed up just now, so he could only use this method to cover up his embarrassment. .
Wenger on the sidelines has long lost his usual gentleness and is transforming into Ferguson and running wildly at the fourth official. If Boulder hadn't had quick eyesight and quick hands to drag him away, I'm afraid a Topaz card would have arrived.
The game was interrupted for two minutes before it resumed.
Bayern, which was almost stolen, were a little more honest and their offensive slowed down, but they soon took the initiative and began to put pressure on Arsenal's goal.
In the 12th minute, Robben made his signature cut inside and hit the goalkeeper with a kick that sent the ball into the stands.
In the 15th minute, Robery connected for the first time. The two teamed up to feed the cake to Mandzukic's mouth, but the latter's shot was narrowly blocked by the brave Fabianski.
In the 22nd minute, Alaba stepped forward with an assist from the wing. After receiving a diagonal pass from Kroos, he completed a high-quality wing pass. However, Xavi Martinez's header was slightly higher than the crossbar…
Bayern was playing well at their home court, while Arsenal was being beaten back and forth, and the goal was in danger.
It wasn't until the 25th minute that the Gunners made their second threat of the game.
Rosicky narrowly won the duel with Robben this time and passed the ball to Cazorla.
Cazorla sent the ball to look for Walcott, and the little tiger stepped on the accelerator directly into the fuel tank and rode along the wing.
Alexander hurriedly rushed to the door to prepare for the reception.
Boateng and Van Buyten immediately joined forces and really entangled him like two vines, unable to move.
Walcott's cross came, and Alexander jumped up obviously with two defenders hanging on him. In the end, only his scalp barely missed the ball. Neuer stretched out his hand and easily confiscated the ball.
Bayern immediately launched a counterattack.
Robben almost 100% restored Walcott's attack process just now, taking the ball from the right to the ribs of the penalty area, and then sent the ball to the goal with an exquisite curved pass.
Mandzukic did not waste any more opportunities this time, leaping high and heading the ball into the Arsenal goal.
"GOAL!!!! Robben who doesn't cut inside is equally scary! Bayern Munich opened the scoring in the 27th minute of the game, but the total score between the two sides was still tied! If this score is maintained until the end of the game, then Bayern Munich will become the final The winner!"
"The total score is 4-4. Arsenal's defense still cannot withstand Bayern's bombardment. If they don't make changes, their journey to the Champions League this season may really stop here."
Bayern players began to celebrate wildly, and Wenger called his players to the sidelines.
"We must make full use of the speed! Robben is very fast, Ribery is very fast, but we have Theo and we have Alexander, we can also attack like lightning! Let's all run, don't give them time to react!"
Words are easy to say, but things are difficult to do.
When it comes to speed, Walcott is of course worthy of no one, but asking him to combine man and ball like Robben and Ribery seems to be deliberately embarrassing the child.
Alexander's side was equally uncomfortable.
Boateng himself is a defender with top-notch skills and physical fitness. With Lahm, Van Buyten, Xavi Martinez and others helping from time to time, Alexander failed to make any waves.
What makes Wenger not sure whether he should be happy or worried is that Bayern did not start to set up a bus because they had the upper hand and continued to bombard Arsenal's goal. Fortunately, the defenders did not make any mistakes. The team managed to survive until the end of the first half.
Players from both sides entered the locker room with completely different moods.
Wenger adjusted his mood and said in as calm a voice as possible: "Okay, kids, the time to fight is up. The remaining forty-five minutes will determine our fate for the entire season. Will we be beaten like a coward by the Germans?" Send him home and continue to spend the whole season accomplishing nothing, or fight back like a warrior, it's up to you to decide…"
Wenger really didn't have much hope for victory, so he sent Giroud on the field to play with two forwards.
He was already suppressed on the field, and now he has weakened the thickness of the midfield has taken a lot of risks. However, if he does not strengthen the offensive at this time, it is no different from being beaten. No one can fault him for this adjustment. What a stab.
Giroud was so moved that he almost cried.
After five thousand years, it's finally my turn to play!
"As the referee blew his whistle, the second half of the game officially began."
"Wenger replaced Cazorla with Giroud and Arsenal switched to 4-4-2."
"Bayern kicked off and still pushed forward from the wing. Ribery and Lahm went one-on-one and came to the edge of the penalty area. They were still trying to bring it in. Koscielny used a rather risky tackle to intercept the ball. , Arsenal's counterattack…"
Arsenal's offensive style in this game was quite British, with long passes over the top to find Alexander at every turn. It was not until this counterattack that everyone saw the familiar Gunners.
Quickly pass the ball in the backcourt, get rid of the forward's pressure, and then pass the ball to the midfielder. Ramsey and Arteta hit the wall and then hit Rosicky with a low pass.
Rosicky did not stick to the ball and directly knocked it to Walcott.
Walcott pretended to have a fast break from the wing, passed Alaba and then suddenly cut to the middle. He saw Alexander's position and kicked the ball through.
Alexander leaned on Boateng and struggled to get stuck in position. When the football came to his feet, he did not stop the ball and turn around or knock it too hard as the Bayern defender predicted. Instead, he unexpectedly missed the ball and then knocked it hard with his heel.
The football passed between Boateng's feet and rolled quickly towards the goal.
Neuer is never ambiguous about attacking. He abandoned the goal as soon as he saw the football, but Giroud suddenly appeared out of nowhere and gave the football a gentle push with his arch.
The football slipped past Neuer's feet and rolled into the goal under the desperate eyes of Bayern people in the audience…