Kimmich heads Bayern Munich past Arsenal and into Champions League semifinals

MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich may but crown a disappointing season with the Champions League title. Arsenal faces the prospect of ending a promising season with no trophy.

Joshua Kimmich’s header powered Bayern to a 1-0 win over Arsenal on Wednesday to achieve the Champions League semifinals with a 3-2 victory on mixture.

With the rating at 2-2 from the primary leg in London, Kimmich’s header off Raphael Guerreiro’s pinpoint cross put Bayern forward within the 63rd minute as Bayern largely neutralized the English workforce’s assault.

Arsenal’s gamers have been “gutted,” supervisor Mikel Arteta advised broadcaster TNT Sports activities. “I can not discover the best phrases to raise them.”

Bayern stored alive its hopes of ending the season with a trophy three days after Bayer Leverkusen ended Bayern’s 11-year reign as German champion. Striker Harry Kane — who spoke Tuesday of being motivated by his launch from Arsenal as a youth participant — takes a step nearer to what could be the primary trophy of his profession.

Tuchel stated it meant “actually loads” to beat Arsenal. “The semifinals are an vital step, the final 4, that was enjoyable,” he advised broadcaster DAZN.

Bayern and Arsenal have been drawn collectively 5 occasions within the knockout levels of the Champions League since 2005 and the German workforce has eradicated Arsenal on every event.

Arsenal’s Champions League exit follows a heavy blow to its Premier League title ambitions in a 2-0 loss to Aston Villa on Sunday. Defeat additionally guidelines Arsenal out of subsequent yr’s Membership World Cup in america, in favor of Austrian workforce Salzburg.

Arsenal was left to rue the defensive errors that value the workforce within the first leg.

“We gave them two objectives, an enormous benefit to present away, and as we speak you could possibly see it was margin of error zero, we made a mistake defending the aim and we conceded,” Arteta stated.

“Then it was tough. We tried in many various methods nevertheless it’s tough. It’s the second to remain subsequent to the gamers, give them assist, as a result of they’re those who’ve taken us on this journey.”

Tuchel — who’s leaving on the finish of the season — turns into a Champions League semifinalist as coach of three totally different groups, having led Paris Saint-Germain to the 2020 last earlier than successful the competitors with Chelsea a yr later.

After a primary half stuffed with inconclusive midfield battles — Tuchel known as it “a chess sport” — the competition got here to life after the break when Bayern hit the body of the aim twice in a matter of seconds. Leon Goretzka despatched a header towards the bar and Guerreiro adopted up with a shot that was deflected onto the submit.

Arsenal struggled to make any headway towards Bayern’s protection and generally appeared disjointed on the again, particularly when defender Takehiro Tomiyasu risked an personal aim with a misjudged go that went behind for a nook.

Kimmich darted into the field unmarked to attain the one aim of the sport after Guerreiro’s fast footwork on the touchline allowed him to cross previous the onrushing Arsenal defender Ben White.

“I obtained just a little fortunate that nobody appeared to actually really feel answerable for me,” Kimmich advised DAZN.

Arsenal was awarded a free kick in a harmful place with seconds of stoppage time left to play and opted to take it rapidly. That strategy yielded solely a nook that was simply headed away as the ultimate whistle blew and Bayern’s celebrations started.

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