Arsenal v Bayern Munich should feel momentous - here’s why it doesn’t | OneFootball

The last time Arsenal met Bayern Munich in the Champions League, staff felt there was a “nervous energy” around the Gunners squad. That was back in the 2023-24 quarter-finals, which was the first time the club had even reached that stage in 14 years.

Mikel Arteta’s side weren’t quite ready for the level, and that pre-game feeling was borne out by a 3-2 aggregate defeat. It would take last season’s quarter-final victory over Real Madrid to make them really believe they were a Champions League team again.

Now they believe they can be even more, including Champions League winners. As Arsenal sit at the top of the competition’s group with four wins from four and a goal difference of plus 11, there is a fair argument that they are currently the best side in Europe.

Except, there’s an edge, on which this very fixture sits.

Bayern have that claim, too. The perpetual German champions have the same record as Arsenal but actually sit above them in the Champions League table due to goals scored – 14 versus 11, although Arteta’s side haven’t yet conceded a goal. Bayern may change that.

The record comes from what looks like Bayern’s best and most cohesive side since they won the Champions League in 2020. Sources close to the camp talk about how Vincent Kompany has created a real spirit, allied to real praise for the tactical acumen of the coaching staff.

There are still some typically “Bayern” internal debates, like how one side of the sporting executive favours signings from England – a policy that almost represents a strategic response to the Premier League now having the pick of the Bundesliga’s best players in the way Bayern used to. Hence, Luis Diaz and Harry Kane to kick it all off.

In general, though, Bayern look to be in a good place. There is a particular buzz around their academy, as witnessed in the impact of 17-year-old midfielder Lennart Karl. His fine strike against Freiburg at the weekend was just the latest example of his immense talent.

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Bayern look the most cohesive they have in years (AP)

Surrounded by such quality, Kane is also going to greater levels. There’s just been this multiplying effect on every aspect of his game.

It could raise the question of whether he should have left Tottenham Hotspur much earlier, but the only relevant point now is what he can do for the future. Maybe win that Champions League.

Bayern might now claim so many Bundesliga titles that it doesn’t mean much, but that wasn’t the case for Kane. That long-awaited league-winner’s medal has been transformative. There isn’t the same angst in his mindset. There’s a new assurance about a player who was already one of the most confident finishers in the game. You can see it in the strikes he’s attempting.

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Arsenal are flying high on all fronts (AP)

All of which would be the setup for a grand Champions League clash of great sides, the stirring theme really fitting the occasion… except it just doesn’t feel like that. It can’t feel like that. It’s simply a group game where even the benefits of finishing higher in the top eight remain relatively opaque, depending on who you play.

Such realities feed into a debate that is growing again about this new system. If the novelty of last season ensured there was a new edge to the opening round, only electrified by the struggles of some big sides, there’s much less of that this season.

The same big sides now know what this is about. They know not to try and carefully find their footing in the new format, and just claim the necessary wins early.

Arsenal, for example, have displayed none of the tentativeness that they showed in the opening 0-0 draw at Atalanta last season. They’ve gone out and got those four wins out of four, just like Bayern.

An increasing number of club executives are complaining about this, arguing that this just shows the entire system is a mere halfway-house compromise that doesn’t do what is intended.

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Harry Kane has spearheaded Bayern’s Champions League attack (Getty)

This altered strategy has also left open the prospect that all six Premier League sides could finish in the top eight, a development that would provoke further concern. Many would of course point out that English sides have still won only three Champions League titles since 2012 – and just two this decade – despite their financial advantages.

And it does form another point. It was always the case that form before Christmas never mattered that much. What matters is the knockouts, especially from March on.

Perhaps, a little like Arsenal v Paris Saint-Germain last season, this should simply be seen as a setup for what’s to come.

That was never the aim of this new system, though. All the clubs can do in the meantime is show their intent to win it.