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Bayern's
Thomas Mueller, centre, celebrates with his teammates Joshua Kimmich, right,
and Arturo Vidal after scoring his side's fifth goal during the Champions
League round of 16 first leg soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Arsenal,
in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
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Bayern Munich answered
its critics with a comprehensive 5-1 rout of Arsenal in the first leg of their
Champions League clash to move a step closer to the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Associated
Press report continues:
Thiago
Alcantara struck twice in a superb performance, and Arjen Robben, Robert
Lewandowski and substitute Thomas Mueller scored the other goals.
The
return match is March 7, when Bayern will be a hot favorite to advance.
"It's
a very, very good position," Bayern captain Philipp Lahm said with a
smile. "It should do."
Arsenal,
which lost Captain Laurent Koscielny to injury early in the second half,
appears set to exit in the Round of 16 for the seventh season in a row.
"The
real problems came after the third goal, because we lost our organization and
looked really jaded," Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger said. "The last 25
minutes was like a nightmare for us because we had no response."
In
the night's other first-leg match, Real Madrid rallied from a goal down to beat
Napoli 3-1 in Spain.
Bayern
extended its winning run at home in the competition to 16 games with a repeat
of the score from the last time the sides met in November 2015.
"It's
only one game," Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti said, playing down the
significance of the win. "It's not the final, unfortunately."
But
Ancelotti will be relieved his side showed what it is capable of after five
unconvincing games since the winter break, when Bayern faced criticism for
looking tired and lacking the dominance it displayed at the start of the
season.
There
was little Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina could do to stop Robben from opening
the scoring in the 11th minute. Given too much space, the Dutchman cut inside
as he's done so often before and let fly with a shot that went in off the
underside of the bar.
Bayern
dominated, and it seemed only a matter of time before the home side would add
to its tally. Instead, Arsenal was given a lifeline when Lewandowski took down
central defender Koscielny and the referee awarded the penalty before the
half-hour mark.
Amid
deafening whistles from the home fans, Manuel Neuer saved Alexis Sanchez' weak
spot kick. Sanchez missed the rebound, but cut the Bayern fans' cheers short
when he prodded in at the third attempt.
Suddenly
the momentum was with Arsenal. Granit Xhaka should have scored when he shot
straight at Neuer, and Mesut Ozil might have made it 2-1 at the break, only for
Neuer to come to Bayern's rescue again.
But
it was all Bayern after Arsenal lost Koscielny in the 49th minute.
Robben
and Lahm combined on the right ring, the latter producing an inviting cross for
Lewandowski to rise above two defenders and head inside the right post in the
53rd.
The
Poland striker produced a brilliant back-heeled flick to send Thiago through to
score another three minutes later.
Bayern
had a host of other chances, first through Lewandowski, who struck the crossbar
after rounding the 'keeper, and then through Robben, who was blocked by Kieran
Gibbs, illegally according to the Bayern players, who demanded a penalty.
Those
claims were forgotten when Thiago scored his second, minutes later, with a
deflected shot after a corner, before he set up Mueller to complete the rout
with two minutes remaining. The Germany forward had come on two minutes before.
"We have to cope with the result," Wenger said. "No matter what we say now, it's detrimental to us."
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