FC Bayern lose their Champions League clash at Arsenal FC. FCBinside provides three insights into the match
Bayern suffered their first defeat of the season with a 3-1 loss at the Gunners. The game provided the following insights
1. Bayern were helpless against Arsenal’s standards
Everyone had warned beforehand, but Bayern were ultimately helpless against Arsenal’s world-class set-pieces. The set-pieces, for which the Gunners have their own coach in Nicolas Jover, are the Londoners‘ most dangerous weapon and that was of course no secret beforehand.
Everyone had warned of this in the run-up to the game, especially Bayern coach Vincent Kompany, but in the end Arsenal took the lead from a corner and actually put the Munich defence in serious danger from all set-pieces.
Set-pieces are not only one of Arsenal’s particular strengths, but also one of Bayern’s weaknesses. The four previous goals conceded before the 1-0 defeat at the Emirates had also come from set-pieces: 2-2 in Berlin and 6-2 after trailing 2-0 against Freiburg. Bayern have already conceded a total of eleven goals from set-pieces in 2025, their worst tally since 2009.
The explanations from Bayern’s protagonists after the game in London sounded rather resigned. „Because it’s simply impossible to defend against,“ replied sporting director Max Eberl when asked about FCB’s problems with the home side’s set-pieces: „They cause chaos. And you can’t defend against chaos. They confuse you, you know they’ll be in one place with three or four men, but you don’t know when or where.“
Kompany said after the game that they don’t want to be the best team in November, but rather when it comes to winning titles in the decisive games of the season. However, Bayern will then have to defend set-pieces better, especially in the Champions League.
Perhaps they will face Arsenal again in the knockout round, who are probably the strongest team in Europe at the moment. By then at the latest, Bayern will really have to come up with a way to counter their own weakness in set-pieces.
2. Bayern have a problem that they don’t want to admit to themselves
It was the big discussion in Bayern’s last transfer window: is the Munich squad too thin? Those in charge deliberately opted for a relatively small group and felt vindicated in this course by the impressive results of the season so far.
Bayern patriarch Uli Hoeneß publicly attacked all those who had warned that the squad was too thin. After all, Bayern had not lost 18 games in a row before Arsenal and defeated Chelsea FC, the reigning Club World Champions, and PSG, the reigning Champions League winners.
But whether the squad depth is sufficient is not decided at the beginning of the season, but the longer the season lasts and when injuries occur. Bayern are currently not struggling with any new absentees, but the game at the Emirates showed that Kompany was unable to really step up towards the end of the game, especially in attack.
He was only able to bring on one attacking player, Nicolas Jackson, while Tom Bischof, Leon Goretzka, Raphael Guerreiro and Minjae Kim all came off the bench, making it difficult to provide a breath of fresh air in attack.
The difference in squad depth was impressively demonstrated by Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta’s substitutions: he was able to bring five absolute top players off the bench in Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli, Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White and Martin Odegaard. Bayern’s thin squad does not give Kompany such opportunities.
3. Neuer blunders pile up
Manuel Neuer looked poor when Jurien Timber conceded the first goal and made a terrible mistake when Gabriel Martinelli conceded the third.
In the Bundesliga, a foul on Neuer would probably have been considered, but at international level you can’t complain about the lack of a whistle in this situation.
When he scored to make it 3:1, Neuer had almost run out to the halfway line and was outplayed by Martinelli. He should probably have stayed in goal here and only run towards Martinelli later.
These are not the first mistakes by Neuer this season, but in such a top duel they are simply punished harshly. The Bayern keeper did not look good twice in the 2-2 draw in Berlin.
As is always the case when Neuer slips up, the other side point to his merits or to his performances so far this season. These have also been generally good and even in London Neuer made some strong saves. Had he not made strong saves against Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice, Bayern could have conceded even more goals elsewhere.
Nevertheless, the fate of the goalkeeper is that just one slip-up can end an entire competition, as it did in the semi-final the season before last, when a lapse by the keeper probably cost them a place in the Dahoam final.
Negotiations over a new contract for the then 40-year-old are due to take placein the spring, and Bayern must hope that Neuer remains largely free of further slip-ups until then.