5 Things we learned from Bayern Munich’s entertaining draw with Arsenal

1. Two of the best teams in Europe going at it in the Champions League. When I saw the players that Bayern were missing tonight I thought it might be a one-sided game in Arsenal’s favour but it was anything but, Arteta’s side were dealt an early blow ten minutes in as Bukayo Saka went off injured with what looked like a calf strain, obviously we’ll find out tomorrow but yet another injury to that frontline isn’t exactly what Arsenal needed. They did manage to take the lead however in the 25th minute as Odegaard swung a ridiculous ball through to Eze who let the ball come across him before smashing it past Neuer to put the Gunners into the lead, Bayern did hit back ten minutes later as Harry Kane dropped deep before playing a pin-point ball through to Alphonso Davies who calmly finished past Raya to make it 1-1 heading into half-time. Kompany’s side came out the better team in the second half and in the 60th minute were awarded a penalty as Kane’s shot hit Timber’s arm with the referee immediately pointing the spot, Harry Kane stepped up and slotted the ball past Raya to give the Bavarians a well deserved lead in the second half. As the second half progressed Arsenal began to get stronger and went close a number of times before eventually equalising in the 82nd minute, Madueke played the ball into Gyokeres who held it up brilliantly before slipping in Declan Rice who slammed Arsenal level with a great finish. Overall 2-2 felt about right but I’d love to see this tie again with both teams full strength, who do you think would come out on top?

2. A point gained or two dropped for Arsenal? A point away at the Allianz is never a bad one but considering Bayern were missing the likes of Olise, Diaz, Kimmich and Musiala I was expecting a bit more from Arteta’s side, the Bukayo Saka injury obviously didn’t help and it looked a bad one but yet again we see the pivot of Rice and Guimaraes which doesn’t seem to be working so far this season. Up against a midfield of Tom Bischoff and Aleksander Pavlovic who are 21 and 22 respectively I thought Arsenal would dominate in there but it just didn’t happen, I understand you have to show Bayern respect but I thought Arsenal would put a marker down this evening. The two goals they did score were absolutely brilliant with Odegaard getting an early assist of the season contender with an outrageous ball through to Eze who didn’t even have to take a first touch and scored with a first-time shot, the second goal actually came from some great hold-up play by Gyokeres which I don’t say too often then laying the ball off to Rice who finished well into the bottom corner. Defensively Arsenal certainly look more open so far this season and the reintroduction of Jurrien Timber into the side hasn’t helped with the Dutchman returning from injury, he’s looked miles off the pace since coming back so I’d assume Ben White is the first-choice right-back at the moment and will start on Saturday. Overall I don’t think Arteta will be too upset with the draw but will undoubtedly be worried about the Saka injury, hopefully he’s not out for too long.

3. A full-strength Bayern Munich certainly wins that game tonight. I have no doubts that if the likes of Olise, Diaz and Kimmich started this game then Bayern would have came out of with three points but the players that stepped in played brilliantly, obviously Kane was the star of the show and I’ll talk about him more later on but I thought Alphonso Davies, Tom Bischoff and Aleksander Pavlovic were the other standouts tonight for Bayern who could probably count themselves unfortunate not to win the game. The German side were let down by their other two attackers today in Ismael Saibari and Serge Gnabry who missed some brilliant chances throughout the night that would have won Bayern the game, Gnabry’s best days are undoubtedly behind him at this point and Saibari didn’t exactly look comfortable playing behind Kane tonight. I do slightly worry about Bayern’s full-backs when it comes to the knockouts as Konrad Laimer and Josip Stanisic are excellent on the ball but they lack that athleticism that I think is needed at full-back and if they come up the likes of Barcelona, PSG and Real Madrid I think they could be in real trouble out wide. Overall I think Kompany will be happy enough with the draw and would be confident if Bayern matched Arsenal in the knockouts in a few months, I’d love to see it over two legs.

4. Harry Kane just keeps getting better and better. With Bayern’s other stars missing tonight the creative burden was laid to Harry Kane and wow did he deliver tonight, the Ballon d’Or favourite took it upon himself to basically create everything for Bayern tonight and the pass for the first goal was out of this world for Alphonso Davies who had to score. I like many others have criticised Kane for dropping deep at times in games like these but with the likes of Diaz and Olise missing he had to come back and spray passes to Davies and Gnabry which should have led to far more goals in the second half, I mean he was taking goal-kicks in the second half and sending Bayern on counter-attacks which I couldn’t believe. It’s a shame he wasn’t getting the respect he deserved when he was playing at Spurs with people judging him on trophies won instead of just looking at the actual player, now that he’s in Germany and scoring 60 plus goals a season he heads into the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday as favourite. I think he’s the clear winner but I do wonder if they’ll give it to Lamine Yamal, I suppose we’ll find out on Monday.

5. What’s up next for these two sides? Bayern Munich are back in action in the Bundesliga on Sunday as they take on 3rd place Freiburg way from home, Arsenal return to the Emirates on Saturday to face Everton as they look to close the gap to Man City at the top of the table. As for me I’ll be back on Saturday with Aston Villa vs Man City and Chelsea vs Spurs, have a nice evening.