It has taken a while, but Arsenal may finally have learnt to appreciate the joy of winning ugly.
Olivier Giroud’s scrappy, handled goal was celebrated with as much gusto as any Alexis Sánchez masterpiece before Mesut Özil contributed a more accomplished finish, although this famous victory will be remembered as a rare night when Arsène Wenger eschewed aesthetics.
Pep Guardiola declared Bayern Munich’s first defeat of the season last night “a mystery of football,” but in reality the explanation was quite straightforward and boiled down to a tale of two goalkeepers.
Petr Cech made four excellent saves and gave Arsenal’s defence a sense of assurance they have lacked for over a decade before Manuel Neuer experienced a rare aberration, failing to collect Santi Cazorla’s free kick and gifting Giroud the goal that settled the game.
Neuer had made some outstanding saves himself, including a spectacular one to deny Theo Walcott the goal his all-round performance deserved, but this was a night for the German to forget.
Advertisement
After the euphoria has died down, it may come as a shock to some Arsenal fans that they still face a tough battle to qualify from group F, as they trail both Bayern and Olympiacos by three points, but this was a result of such substance that it could have a transformative effect on their season.
Next month’s return fixture at the Allianz Arena will certainly feel less intimidating after this victory, which is just as well, because after Olympiacos’s win away to Dynamo Zagreb last night, Arsenal could do with at least a point to avoid needing to win by two clear goals in their final match in Greece to qualify for the knockout stage.
Arsenal have experienced too many false dawns in recent years to get carried away by one win, but the manner of this victory felt different.
Unlike their recent 3-0 humbling of Manchester United, Wenger’s side had to work hard for every single second to maintain parity against impressive opponents, who failed to score for the first time this season after plundering 40 goals in their past 12 matches, with Arsenal’s ability to survive on just 32 per cent of possession particularly impressive.
While Bayern were in control for all but the final ten minutes of the first half, it often felt like the “sterile domination” that Wenger once accused Guardiola’s Barcelona of specialising in, with Cech’s saves more notable for their quality than their quantity.
Advertisement
In contrast to the two home defeats they have suffered to Bayern in the past two years, Arsenal never panicked despite being starved of the ball, with consummate artists such as Özil and Cazorla transforming themselves into athletes.
Cazorla and Francis Coquelin worked tirelessly to compress space in midfield, Per Mertesacker stayed closer to Robert Lewandowski than any other centre back has managed all season and Nacho Monreal achieved the seemingly impossible by denying Thomas Müller a sight of goal until the closing stages.
Perhaps most impressive of all was the mental strength shown by Héctor Bellerín, who recovered from being given a pasting by Douglas Costa in the opening half-hour to make the burst down the right that created Özil’s clincher.
Arsenal fulfilled Guardiola’s prophecy that they would “fight like animals” to stay in the Champions League, although they initially resembled nothing so much as sleeping lions — still an improvement on the rabbits caught in the headlights of their recent experiences against Bayern.
Wenger’s players deliberately lay deep and dormant, allowing the visiting team to dominate possession in the hope of threatening on the counterattack through the pace of Theo Walcott, which they did intermittently.
Advertisement
Cech certainly earned his money — and once again demonstrated the folly of Wenger’s decision to play David Ospina in last month’s home defeat to Olympiacos — but did not keep Arsenal in the contest single-handedly. The most impressive of his three crucial first-half saves came in the 12th minute, when Thiago Alcântara exchanged quick passes with Müller before being denied by Cech.
Thiago was a threat throughout, as was Costa, who gave Bellerín the most difficult 30 minutes of his career to date. His astonishing double stepover in the 19th minute briefly threatened to send the internet into meltdown, and he deserved better than watching Cech block his cross at the near post.
Cech also made a good save from Arturo Vidal just before the half-hour, but the rest of the first half belonged to Arsenal, whose counterattacking strategy began to reap dividends.
Unfortunately, Walcott’s finishing did not match his approach play as he twice produced poor shots, although his best chance was thwarted by one of the saves of the season from Neuer, who showed incredible reflexes to reach a point-blank header before Aaron Ramsey skewed the follow-up across the face of goal.
Ramsey’s premature departure with a hamstring injury in the second half disturbed Arsenal’s attacking balance, and they had seemed content to hold on for a point when they took the lead.
Advertisement
Cech had just made his fourth important save by racing from his line to deny Lewandowski, when the spotlight was suddenly transferred to the other goalkeeper.
Neuer rushed from the sanctuary of his own net to claim Cazorla’s free kick, but made a mess of his attempted punch and the ball carried on uninterrupted for Giroud, on as a substitute three minutes earlier, to score with his hands.
Özil’s volleyed goal in the dying seconds was far more elegant, after a brilliant burst and cross down the right from Bellerín, but for once Arsenal were not interested in artistic impression.
● Brown Ideye, who scored seven goals for West Bromwich Albion last season but failed fully to justify his £10 million transfer fee, hit the only goal as Olympiacos boosted their hopes of reaching the knockout stages by winning 1-0 away to Dinamo Zagreb in the other match in group F. The Nigeria forward scored a 79th-minute winner with a superb finish from a tight angle, redeeming himself for an astonishing miss earlier in the second half as the Greek side joined Bayern Munich on six points.