"We're looking forward to London as we've already had good times there," said Bayern skipper Manuel Neuer when he heard the draw in the Champions League in the middle of December. Tuesday brings the Round of 16 match in the Champions League against Chelsea in London – the city where the German record champions have experienced many a special night in previous years. fcbayern.com looks back at four magical nights in the capital of the United Kingdom.
19.02.2013: Bayern lesson for Arsenal
In February 2013, FCB were away to Arsenal in the Round of 16. The Reds, then coached by Jupp Heynckes, were on fire after six wins in succession without conceding a single goal and they kept it up in the UK capital. Bayern took a deserved early lead with goals from Toni Kroos (7') and Thomas Müller (21'). Arsenal did pull a goal back through Lukas Podolski (55') but Mario Mandžukić (77') scored to make it 3-1 with that result perfectly setting up the second leg at the Allianz Arena. "The Gunners taught a Champions League lesson by brilliant Bayern," was the assessment of the FCB performance in the British tabloid, The Sun.
Bayern registered a 3-1 win at Arsenal led by their outstanding captain Philipp Lahm.
25.05.2013: Coronation as champions of Europe
FC Bayern were back in London three months later – but this time it was at Wembley Stadium for the premier club title in Europe. In the first ever all-German final of the Champions League, FCB were able to put the bitter defeat to Chelsea in the previous season's final behind them against Borussia Dortmund. After goal from Mandžukić (60') and a leveller from Ilkay Gündoğan (68' pen.) it was all square with minutes to play and then Arjen Robben stepped up to the plate: "It was such a tight game. Then in the last minute, I reacted to Franck (Ribery, ed.) as he played the ball into my path and I was able to put it away," said the Dutchman after the final whistle in describing his 89th minute winner that crowned Bayern as champions of Europe:
07.03.2017: Munich power play at the Gunners
FC Bayern and Arsenal were almost constant rivals in the Champions League Round of 16 between 2013 and 2017 – the teams from Munich and London crossed swords four times at this stage of competition. Bayern flexed their muscles in the last episode of this eternal encounter in March 2017. After a 5-1 victory in the first leg at the Allianz Arena, the team, then coached by Carlo Ancelotti, celebrated a goal fest at the Emirates Stadium: Arsenal took the lead through Theo Walcott (20') but then a penalty and the associated sending off of Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny set Bayern on course: Robert Lewandowski converted the spot kick (55') and that was followed by goals from Robben (68'), Douglas Costa (78') and a brace from Arturo Vidal (80', 85') making the final score 5-1 to the Reds.
Robert Lewandowski turned the game round with his penalty on 55 minutes in the 5-1 victory at Arsenal in March 2017.
01.10.2019: Bayern on fire against Tottenham
In a group stage of the Champions League full of superlatives for FC Bayern, this match was an historic high point: FCB were away to Tottenham Hotspur in October and they had a field day. An early opener from Heung-Min Son (12') was almost immediately cancelled out by Joshua Kimmich (15') and another strike from Lewandowski (45') put the German record champions 2-1 up before the break – and FCB finally took off after the restart. Serge Gnabry (53', 55', 87', 88',) became the first player in the history of the Champions League to score four goals in a game after half-time and Lewandowski (87') also scored again. Harry Kane netted a consolation strike from the penalty spot on 61 minutes. It was the first time an English team had conceded more than five goals in a European home game. "That was a stand-out performance," declared sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić after the historic 7-2 win.
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