Bayern Knocked Arsenal Out Of UCL

In the Champions League match last night Arsenal was knocked out by the defending champions - Bayern Munchen after the two teams drew 1 - 1 in their second encounter in Munich.

Bayern won the first leg of the duels in London 2 - 0 and go through on a 3 - 1 aggregate. The first half of the match ended in 0 - 0 with the host team having more possession of the ball.

In the 54th minute of the second half Frank Ribery saw Bastian Schweinsteiger in front the goalkeeper unmarked and taylored a great pass to him, which he immediately put into the net, for a 1 - 0 lead.

Arsenal responded and got the equalizer in the 57th minute through the Polish-German international, Lukas Podolski, after beating defender and captain Philip Lahm, and shot the ball on the top left of the roof of the net.


Lukas Podolski with Mesut Ozil
 

In the 90th minute Arjan Robben, was once again brought down in the box and a penalty was given and just as the Nigerian-Austrian born David Alaba missed the penalty in London, the substitute Thomas Muller's penalty in Munich was saved by Fabianski.
After the match Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, repeated to the media his criticism of Arjan Robben in the manner he seeks for penalties.

''Robben is very good at getting the maximum of nothing. He is a great player and a very good diver,'' he said.

''He is a fantastic player, I would not deny that, he's one of the best players in the world.

''But he gets in front of a player and then he slows down and goes down. He gets the free-kicks,'' Mr Wenger added.

The highly talented Dutch international, insisted that on both occassions in London and Munich, the referees were correct to give him penalties. He said that it was the complaints of a manager who lost, and he would not defend himself from the comment.

''If you lose, don't start complaining about silly things. It was two penalties,'' he insisted. Read also: africanfootie.blogspot.com

''I don't want to defend myself from a big manager, you expect a little bit more if you lose,'' Robben said.

The Bayern manager Pep Guardiola, who was obviously elated with the performance of his team, told the media after the game.

''In the first half we only had one chance, but we didn't give them any chances, so we played very well in that aspect and we wanted to put a bit pressure up front.''

The defending champions are through to the quater final and they are hoping that with their new tactician, Pep Guardiola, to do what no other team has done in the Champions League and that is to win the trophy back to back.

In the other Champions League encounter of the night, the Spanish club which is in-form, Atletico Madrid, crushed the six time Champions League winners AC Milan to a 4 - 1 defeat in Madrid. Atletico go through on a 5 - 1 aggregate. The Brazilian Diego Costa scored twice, with one each from Turan and Garcia.

Tonight FC Barcelona will host Manchester City and they have a 2 - 0 lead in the first encounter. It is an uphill task for the Citizens, but not unsumantable. Barcelona this season is performing below their standard. They are not as consistent as before, but with Messi regaining his form now, they are likely to go through to the quater final.

In the other match tonight Paris Saint Germain (PSG) will be hosting Bayer Leverkusen. PSG not only have the home advantage but also they thrashed Leverkusen 4 - 0 in the first leg. Both matches will be played 20.45 (cet).