'With heart and passion' - Battling Bayern earn themselves good position

Jan-Christian Dreesen neatly summarised the mood in the Bayern camp after the thrilling 2-2 draw at Arsenal: "It's been a tough month, we've got some tough weeks in the legs, but what a day it's been today. The team put in a fantastic performance." The CEO praised the "team performance and the super team spirit", concluding: "That's the true face of FC Bayern." Now it's about building on this performance – "then everyone in Europe has to watch out for us".

Gnabry and Kane score in former home

It was none other than two former Londoners in Serge Gnabry and Harry Kane who scored the goals against the current Premier League leaders, putting Bayern in a promising position for the second leg next week. Winger Gnabry, who played for Arsenal as a youngster, made it 1-1 in the 18th minute with his 16th Champions League goal in a London stadium – an incredible stat. However, the goalscorer limped off injured in the second half.

Attacking colleague Kane was confident as ever from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute, when he put the Bavarians 2-1 up against his favourite opponents (15th goal in 20th meeting). The 30-year-old is now the outright top scorer in this season's Champions League with seven goals.

Sané turbo-charged

At the final whistle, though, Joshua Kimmich reserved special praise for another player: "A big factor was Leroy Sané, who particularly in the first half was heavily involved. Defensively everyone dug in, but in attack he was the one who carried our play going forward." The speedster inititated Gnabry's equaliser with a sublime pass to the lively Leon Goretzka, and then won the penalty for Kane with a top-drawer solo run.

With passion and commitment

What united everyone in a black shirt was their visible bite, passion and commitment to stand up to their skilled opponents and give everything to reach the semi-finals. "The team were energetic in the press without the ball today and were brave with it," praised board member for sport Max Eberl, while head coach Thomas Tuchel stated: "We knew we'd have to suffer today."

After a memorable evening in the English capital, this ability to suffer should be emphasised just as much as the fighting spirit of every single player. Whether you focus on Matthijs de Ligt, Konrad Laimer or Kane, they all devoted themselves to the team in unison. 

All eyes on second leg

Despite the two Arsenal goals from Bukayo Saka (12') and Leandro Trossard (76'), that effort almost resulted in what would not have been an undeserved away win, but Kingsley Coman's shot from Jamal Musiala's cross crashed against the post in the 90th minute. The celebrations will now have to wait for the eagerly anticipated second leg at the Allianz Arena on 17 April. "I'm looking forward to the second leg, with our fans in the Allianz Arena behind us, where we want to finish off what we started today," Eberl looked ahead. For Tuchel, too, the situation is clear: "The winner advances. We need the same passion and commitment we showed today next week."

Or, in the words of CEO Dreesen: "With heart and passion, we want to show who FC Bayern are next week. Together we'll do it."

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