Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium lies some 20 km to the east of Wembley, the venue for this year’s Champions League final. Following Tuesday’s 3-1 win on the Gunners’ home patch, the Bayern camp briefly reflected on the distances involved in Europe’s elite club competition. Victory over Arsenal was “a giant stride” on the way to the next round, but only a small step on the “long road” to the final, as Karl-Heinz Rummenigge observed in his speech at the traditional post-match banquet.
To a buzz of relaxed chatter, and still under the mesmerising spell of an enthralling European footballing night, the players, coaching staff, officials, sponsors and VIP guests gathered in the Grand Ballroom of The Landmark team hotel in Marylebone to hear the FCB chairman reflect on events at the Emirates. “All credit to the team for a focused and top-quality display,” said Rummenigge, “especially in the first half, it wasn’t only a continuation of the excellence of recent weeks in the Bundesliga, it might even have been a little bit better.”
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