Mikel Arteta points to Bayern advantage in Champions League as Arsenal players ‘really gutted’
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said his players are “really gutted” after their defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final, and pointed out a key advantage Thomas Tuchel’s team had over his.
Joshua Kimmich’s header just past the hour mark sealed a 1-0 second-leg victory for the German side that saw them advance 3-2 on aggregate.
Arteta said he believes experience was key for Bayern, with his players relative novices in the competition.
“I cannot find the right words to lift them, I wish I had,” Arteta said. “We have to go through it. We tried against a team that has a lot of experience and through the tie I think the margins have been very small.
“There have been moments where we have been better. We gave them two goals, a big advantage to give away, and today you could see it was margin of error zero, we made a mistake defending the goal and we conceded.
“Then it was difficult. We tried in many different ways but it’s difficult. It is the moment to stay next to the players, give them support, because they are the ones who have taken us on this journey.”
READ MORE: Arsenal untouchables go missing as Rice, Odegaard and co. exit with a whimper
Harry Kane savoured the “unbelievable win” for his Bayern side after the England international has endured a difficult first season in Germany.
Related video: Tuchel delighted after Bayern set up Real madrid semi final with Arsenal win (English Football Channel)
Let's beginning this is Nicole Lina Filippi Seto
He’s been in oustanding goalscoring form but Bayern were trounced to the Bundesliga title by Bayer Leverkusen.
He told TNT Sports: “Unbelievable win. It’s been a tough season for us. We’ve had to fight and really grind at times, and today was that.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game. We knew at home we could make the difference with our fans there. It was what we expected – a tough game, a tight game. It was a great goal from Josh to make the difference for us and then it was about defending and keeping that clean sheet.
“To reach the semi-final is a great achievement for us and we can enjoy this one.”
Man City 1-1 Real Madrid (agg: 4-4, 3-4 pens): Bernardo, Kovacic miss spot kicks
Manchester City’s dreams of retaining the Champions League were shattered after a dramatic penalty shoot-out loss to Real Madrid.
Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic both missed from the spot as City were beaten 4-3 on penalties after their pulsating quarter-final tie ended 4-4 on aggregate.
Rodrygo had given Real an early lead in the second leg at the Etihad Stadium but City otherwise dominated and, after creating a host of chances, finally made it 1-1 on the night through Kevin De Bruyne in the 76th minute.
De Bruyne spurned a good chance to win the tie in normal time and Erling Haaland had earlier hit the crossbar but it was the competition’s record 14-time winners who ultimately prevailed.
READ MORE: Manchester City once again left ruing lack of knockout punch as Real Madrid eke out shootout win
It was harsh on City, who had immediately set out their stall to dominate possession.
Despite their control, however, the hosts looked vulnerable to the counter-attack and were caught out after 12 minutes.
Jude Bellingham brilliantly controlled a high ball with the outside of his foot and found Federico Valverde, who in turn fed Vinicius Junior in the box.Related video: Manchester City train ahead of Real Madrid quarter final second leg (English Football Channel)
Vinicius pulled back for Rodrgyo and, although Ederson did well to beat out his powerful first-time shot, he could do nothing to deny his fellow Brazilian on the rebound.
City stepped up the tempo in response and created a host of chances.
Haaland sent a header against the bar and Silva missed the rebound before De Bruyne forced Andriy Lunin to save from 25 yards.
Jack Grealish twice went close with two efforts deflected wide and De Bruyne had two attempts on goal direct from corners, with Lunin palming both over.
Phil Foden also missed the target as City kept up the pressure but Josko Gvardiol needed to block a Dani Carvajal shot to prevent Real snatching a second on the break.
City started the second half strongly and Nacho needed to scramble clear off the line with Haaland lurking after a mix-up in the Real box.
Yet Foden could only manage a weak shot at Lunin and there were signs of frustration as the game passed the hour mark with Pep Guardiola trying to rouse the crowd.
City pressed on with Grealish shooting at Lunin and their persistence finally paid off as Antonio Rudiger could only half-clear a cross from substitute Jeremy Doku and De Bruyne clipped home the loose ball.
With the crowd energised, City stepped on the accelerator and De Bruyne sent a dipping shot narrowly over before skying an even better chance.
City kept the pressure on until the end of normal time but could not find a way through Real’s stubborn defence.
Haaland was sacrificed for extra time and Foden spurned a good chance when he mis-kicked in front of goal.
Real attacks remained rare but Kyle Walker, underlining an impressive return after injury, raced back to prevent Vinicius escaping and Rudiger put a chance over.
It came down to penalties and, although Ederson lifted City by saving from Luka Modric, Lunin denied both Silva and Kovacic to send Real through.
Manchester City once again left ruing lack of knockout punch as Real Madrid eke out shootout win
The Premier League title may now be Manchester City’s to lose, but this may well end up being the season where none of England’s big six clubs get what they really want.
Winning the league is never a triumph to downplay, but after last year’s treble heroics, City’s have set their own bar higher than that. An inability to find their way past the best sides they have faced this season has held them back from once again romping to the league title, drawing both games against Liverpool, taking one point from their two encounters with Arsenal, losing away to Aston Villa and sharing the spoils at home to Tottenham.
Manchester City’s lack of sixth gear costly again
That lack of a sixth gear has now seen City exit the Champions League, too. They had Real Madrid against the ropes for at least 90 of the 120 long, arduous minutes at the Etihad Stadium, but were unable to land the knockout punch they needed.
For the first half an hour, the game settled into a familiar pattern: Manchester City putting ten men forward, Real Madrid matching them with ten men behind the ball, but always tightly coiled and ready to spring forward when the opportunity presented itself.
The opening goal came off exactly that gambit, with a hopeful long ball brilliantly controlled by Jude Bellingham, who saw off Rodri’s attentions in the process before working it out to Federico Valverde. From there it was a simple ball to Vinicius Junior, following by a swift cross that left Ederson only capable of parrying Rodrygo’s first effort straight back to him to put home.Related video: Manchester City train ahead of Real Madrid quarter final second leg (English Football Channel)With City now in need of a goal to stay in the competition, one might have expected the game to continue in that vein. For fifteen minutes or so after their goal, Real Madrid kept trying to replicate it, only for their final ball never quite managing to carve the City defence back open again.
READ MORE: Arsenal untouchables go missing as Rice, Odegaard and co. exit with a whimper
And then, they just…stopped. The ten men behind the ball became a stubborn eleven, rarely playing wider than the width of the penalty area when City had the ball in the final third.
Erling Haaland put one presentable header over the bar, then another onto it, with Bernardo Silva only able to react quickly enough to thigh the rebound wide of the post. Kevin De Bruyne went closer and closer from distance without success. Jack Grealish kept threatening to force the issue without ever actually managing to finish the job.
By the hour mark, Real Madrid looked thoroughly knackered. The sense was no longer that they were unwilling to commit to counter-attacks, but thoroughly unable, having been physically and mentally ground down by the relentless Manchester City passing machine. Yet still their lead remained intact.
Jeremy Doku impact not enough to see Manchester City past Real Madrid
Had the penalty shootout gone the other way, had Real not proved so resilient at the back this would have been Jeremy Doku’s story. One well-oiled machine had been cancelled out by another, different kind of well-oiled machine; one that looked distinctly more Atletico Madrid than Real Madrid.
Doku is the least Manchester City of all Manchester City’s players. Having played just under half of their Premier League minutes this season, the winger is nonetheless single-handedly responsible for a quarter of all their dribbles that have led directly to shots on goal.
Where ceaseless robotic repetition had failed, Doku’s chaos element succeeded in jamming up Real Madrid’s defensive works.
Even just four minutes after his introduction from the bench, it was no surprise that he played such a key role in giving Manchester City parity, driving at Dani Carvajal then finding Manuel Akanji’s run to the byline. His cutback to De Bruyne gave the Belgian a simple but well-taken finish – and it was already apparent that Real Madrid’s best chance of claiming victory was to somehow take the game all the way to penalties.
As it often does, extra time came and went without major incident, though Antonio Rudiger almost broke the run of play in the last minute of the first period, blazing off target from close range from the second phase of a set piece.
Rudiger made no mistake with the tenth and final spot-kick of the game, though, converting after Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic outdid Real’s first penalty taker, Luka Modric, for the sheer rottenness of their efforts, making Andriy Lunin’s job far too easy for him under the pressure of an expectant home crowd.
That leaves City to play for the Premier League and FA Cup trophies. Liverpool having already claimed the League Cup but currently look unlikely to add to that. Arsenal are out of the Champions League and the FA Cup, and need to overtake City again to take the title. It now looks very much like the Premier League won’t get that coveted fifth Champions League place, either – bad news for Aston Villa or Tottenham.
This is what we want as neutrals, of course: for silverware to be shared around. But for those at the top end of the Premier League…nobody is smiling at the moment.
Arsenal untouchables go missing as Rice, Odegaard and co. exit with a whimper
Mikel Arteta may chalk that up as good experience for Champions League novices, but Arsenal’s big players went missing in their biggest game of the season. They whimpered when they needed to roar.
Eight members of Bayern’s 2020 Champions League winning squad remain and the vast majority of the players that weren’t around four years ago have significant experience in the competition besides.
Arsenal’s is a team of relative novices other than the pair signed from Chelsea: Kai Havertz, who scored the winner in the 2021 final, and Jorginho, who was named player of the tournament that year. Experience told, or so everyone will claim.
Jorginho was always likely to be key for Arsenal at the Allianz Arena. Tasked with starting attacks from deep and shackling Bayern’s main threat in Jamal Musiala, he did both admirably, setting Ben White away with a pinpoint through ball in the first half with which the right-back should have done more, and largely keeping an extraordinarily slippy customer in Musiala quiet.
Chasing the game as they were after Kimmich gave Bayern a 3-2 aggregate lead, Jorginho was the obvious man to to make way for Gabriel Jesus, with fellow midfielders Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard offering goal threats that are beyond Jorginho. But Arsenal really missed the Italian’s experience and wiles after he left the action, as the Gunners’ untouchables provided nothing of note in the last half hour of the biggest game of their season.Related video: Arsenal ready to write a different story - Mikel Arteta (Daily Mail)
Would this be a result that brings the club on
Kimmich’s goal had been coming. Bayern went up a gear after half-time as Arsenal failed to get going again. Raphael Guerreiro’s ball in was decent and so was the header, but it all felt far too easy: no pressure on the cross; no one tracking Kimmich’s run.
And from there it was plain sailing for Bayern. Konrad Laimer and Leon Goretzka, both on the wrong end of heavy criticism for their displays for the German giants this season, dominated Rice and Odegaard, who have been brilliant for much of this campaign, but went missing when it really mattered.
Rice was twice beaten on the ball by Musiala after responsibility for the 21-year-old had been passed to him, and this was a performance of Rice from five years ago, all sideways passes and caution rather than the rangy running and progression we’ve become accustomed to in his latter West Ham days and this season for Arsenal.
Frustrated in the second half, Odegaard dropped deep to get on the ball but was just as ineffective from there as he had been in his more typical space in the pocket behind Bukayo Saka, whom the captain couldn’t get anything going with.
Saka completed none of his three attempted dribbles. Odgeaard lost possession five times, the most of anyone on the pitch apart from Gabriel Martinelli, who spurned it on seven occasions. They were all off it.
Arsenal had just nine shots in the game, and incredibly, just one in the 30 minutes having gone behind, a period in which Bayern had eight.
It’s not that they bottled it – there was no capitulation and they weren’t embarrassed. It was more that they didn’t seem to have any idea how they were going to win the game, and faced with adversity, they went into their collective shell. They whimpered when they needed to roar.
Mikel Arteta values intensity and aggression in his Arsenal team, but that was entirely lacking in the second half in particular.
“Now how we react to it, that’s going to be key,” Arteta said after their 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday, adding that the Bayern clash represented the “perfect game for a reaction”. He can’t have been impressed.
Bayern are a good team with good players, and Thomas Tuchel is a Champions League expert. But had Arsenal played anywhere close to their best they would have won this game. Because for all their quality, Bayern have just been trounced in the Bundesliga. Their confidence is brittle, and a head of steam at any point across the 180+ minutes would have seen Arsenal run away with it.
Arteta may well chalk this up as good experience for a squad that’s not got much of it to call upon. But the facts are having sneaked through against Porto in the last 16, they’ve come against a half-decent team and been comfortably seen off. That was really poor from Arsenal, and no amount of inexperience can account for a performance being quite so limp.
Amanda Staveley resigns from ‘Newcastle United’ but no one cares as stake reduced by PIF
Amanda Staveley has apparently resigned as director from ‘Newcastle United Football Club Limited’, but it’s not what it looks like.
The Newcastle chief played a huge hand in brokering the deal that saw the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) buy the club from Mike Ashley in 2021.
Stake reduced amid directorship changes
PIF own an 80 per cent stake, while PCP Capital Partners, Staveley’s firm, and Reuben Brothers each took 10 per cent.
Staveley’s stake has now been reduced to six per cent thanks to cash injections by the Saudis and the Reuben family, in a change that has also seen her directorship removed, but not from the one that matters.
As outlined by The Mag, who did some Companies House digging, she remains director of the actual football club, company number 00031014, but not the ‘Newcastle United Football Club Limited’ company, number 05981582, which is apparently dormant.
The Newcastle United company that counts still has Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Amanda Staveley, Jamie Reuben, Asmaa Mohammed Rezeeq and Abdulmajid Ahmed Alhagbani as the listed directors.
A source from Newcastle told Daily Record stated that these resignations are part of business housekeeping and best practice, and noted that many of the subsidiary companies are dormant.Related video: Newcastle United Women crowned champions of Northern Premier Division (Dailymotion)
“Into the realm of fantasy…”
Anyway, it’s been a testing few weeks for Staveley, who was ordered by a judge to pay Greek tycoon Victor Restis £3.4m owed from an investment he made in her businesses by next week.
The judge said her witness statement ventured “into the realm of fantasy and completely implausible” and said claiming a business deal was struck under duress had a “complete lack of credibility.”
Despite apparently being intimidated and under duress she referred to Restis in her correspondence as ‘sweetheart’, ‘darling’, adding ‘I love you so much.”
Staveley was also required last month to publicly apologise to Steve Bruce for claiming he didn’t want to come to work when he was manager of Newcastle, while the club’s recent accounts revealed that she owes the club quite the chunk of change.
Staveley received loans of £659,000 and £600,000 for unspecified legal fees and that her company, Cantervale, was paid £1.24m in advisory fees and £625,000 “to be refunded subsequent to the balance sheet date.”
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