Arsenal must learn quickly after Bayern teach them harsh Champions League lessons

Leandro Trossard rescued a draw for Arsenal as Mikel Arteta’s young side demonstrated their grit and quality but were taught harsh lessons about the realities of this level by Bayern Munich.

The substitute’s low finish made it 2-2 on a night of controversy and high drama, and means Arsenal go to Bavaria next Wednesday level in the quarter-final tie but with Bayern narrow favourites, even if away goals no longer count in the Champions League knockout stages.

Arteta can reflect that it might have been so much better for his side had they maintained their composure at the back and turned the screw after Bukayo Saka gave them an early lead, but it could also have been so much worse.

When Leroy Sane raced clear with Bayern leading 2-1 through Serge Gnabry’s equaliser and a Harry Kane penalty, it was easy to wonder fleetingly if Arsenal were heading for a humbling defeat. Luckily, Ben White got back to put off the Bayern winger.

For all their strides forward, the Premier League leaders are still green on this stage, and the match was a classic demonstration that any slip-up will usually be punished by a team such as Bayern, with both the visitors’ goals of Arsenal’s own making.

Gabriel’s loose pass under pressure from Kane was intercepted by Sane, with Jakub Kiwior and Declan Rice both leaden-footed, and Gnabry finished through the legs of a hesitant David Raya against his boyhood club.

Kane’s inevitable goal — his sixth at the Emirates, making him the leading scorer of any visiting player — came after William Saliba clumsily felled Sane, the winger having skinned the hapless Kiwior on the touchline and made a beeline for the box.

“In Champions League, you cannot give anything to the opponent, we have given two goals,” said Arteta. “When you have these situations they are going to punish you. That’s the biggest lesson. The margins are very small in this competition.”

Arteta on Arsenal mistakes

It was jarring to see Gabriel, who was also clumsy in the build-up to the penalty, and Saliba at fault given their imperious form domestically but the pressure of the occasion appeared to tell. “This happens,” added Arteta. “Maybe it happened before and you don’t get punished but this is the level. Against these kind of players, especially when they have space, you know they can punish you.”

Arteta, just like his players, is inexperienced in European knockout games and the head coach got his selection wrong, before making amends with the introductions of Trossard and Gabriel Jesus.

Kiwior was named at left-back ahead of Oleksandr Zinchenko, a veteran of several Champions League knockouts ties with Manchester City, and it was a chastening night for the Pole, who was easily outclassed for the second goal.

Kiwior held his own in the six-pointers against Liverpool and City, but last night did not feel like an occasion for four centre-halves given Bayern’s pace on the flanks and Kane’s ability to dissect any back-four with raking diagonals.

Arteta was quick to correct his error, with Zinchenko replacing Kiwior at the interval, but his selection could still prove defining in the tie. There were also questions over Jorginho at No 6 and Kai Havertz as a false nine but Arteta’s subs were decisive.

The introductions of Trossard and Jesus shortly after the hour immediately swung the game back in Arsenal’s favour, and the Brazilian’s quick feet created the equaliser. There is a case for starting both in Munich, while Arsenal looked more secure with Rice as their deepest midfielder.

“The subs made a huge impact,” said Arteta. “The way they came on the pitch, their attitude, their initiative to make things happen made a big difference for the team.”

The match was not without controversy, with both sides convinced they deserved a second-half penalty.

Saka was left incensed at referee Glenn Nyberg after connecting with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in stoppage time, although replays suggested the winger initiated the contact with an outstretched leg.

It was a brave decision from Nyberg, who also deserved credit for the common-sense call not to penalise Gabriel for picking up Raya’s goal-kick with Bayern leading 2-1.

For Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, it was a “huge mistake” from Nyberg, but it would have been an enormously contentious call to point to the spot. Arteta refused to be drawn on either decision, nor a Kane elbow on Gabriel, and instead was left reflecting on his side’s own errors.

“We have made some mistakes,” he said. “The probability for that to happen next time is less. OK, it happened, let’s learn from it.”