Arsenal's hopes of growing to the Champions League quarterfinals were treated a large blow by a wild Bayern Munich at the Emirates as last year's runners-up romped to a 3-1 win. Although the match started at the very least relatively promisingly for Arsenal, who managed to give the readers a bit of a shock when Theo Walcott broke down the left side and gained a corner kick which error-prone goalkeeper Manuel Neuer made chaos of. And then... effectively, things went downhill. Bayern Munich possess an amazing variety of attacking skill, but perhaps the most remarkable is 23-year-old Toni Kroos. And it had been Kroos who opened the score eight minutes in, when the readers inundated the right side to let Thomas MAller to send a to the top of the package. Aaron Ramsey lunged for a stop but could not achieve it, and Kroos met the supply with a wonderful 20-yard energy which bounced off the Emirates lawn and buried it self in the trunk of Wojciech Szczesny's internet. The visitors weren't performed there, and Arsenal made life difficult for themselves by providing away free kicks in dangerous jobs. Daniel van Buyten found his excessively intricate free kick routine don't come off but were able to make his side a place anyway thanks to some weird defending, while Bastian Schweinsteiger's work, gained after a bad Per Mertesacker item, was deflected behind for a goalkick. With Arsenal once vulnerable on set pieces, it seemed like merely a issue of time before their rearguard was breached once more. Bayern developed an opening via the somewhat odd approach to punting long to Javi MartAnez, who beat the offside trap and forced Laurent Koscielny to concede a large part. And from said place, the visitors went 2-0. Szczesny was at the least partially the culprit. Van Buyten's near-post header was hit hard but right at the 22-year-old keeper, and although Szczesny were able to stop the picture he didn't keep it out of the danger area, nearly losing it on MAller's feet. The amazed, off-balance midfielder reacted rapidly, prodding the loose ball into the top of the web for a second away goal. A visibly disappointed Arsenal side took out their rage on Bayern's people. Bacary Sagna went in to the book for an awful foul on Kroos, and he was soon joined by Mikel Arteta whilst the former Everton man scythed down Mario Mandzukic on the Gunners' left. There were some faint signs of hope, nevertheless. Mertesacker had an attempt blocked, as did Theo Walcott a few minutes later, and there was great news when Schweinsteiger picked up a booking that will rule him out of the next leg for a on Ramsey, although a cynic might suspect he was deliberately picking up the card to reset his count. And the halftime score might have been worse -- Mandzukic must have set the visitors 3-0 up when he met Philipp Lahm's excellent distribution only to nod just wide of the article. The Gunners began the 2nd half with lots of intention, and they managed to get back to the overall game as a result of a weird Lukas Podolski purpose which saw the Germany global win a large part kick by deflecting Santi Cazorla's shot wide and nod home the set piece when Neuer elected to run around in circles beneath it for no reason after calling his own defenders off. Bayern looked relatively confused at having admitted, but the target seemed to help invigorate Arsenal and it no longer seemed entirely out of the question that they could easily get something out of the tie. But the readers were still very hazardous, and Szczesny was forced to truly save well from Kroos before a free header was hit by MartAnez just over. Arjen Robben was then cast in to the mix by Jupp Heynckes, and his first action saw him drift offside when it appeared to be Kroos would find him clear through on purpose. His 2nd was to force Podolski right into a foul, one that gained a scheduling to the goalscorer, and Ramsey got one as well when he hacked down MAller on the edge of the box. Luckily for the Welshman, Schweinsteiger's subsequent effort was hit well high. Arsenal were getting half-chances too, with the amazing Jack Wilshere and Podolski getting chances to get into the field just for the former to lose the latter and control to shoot well extensive. Then came the big chance. Tomas Rosicky sprayed an intelligent basketball out wide, and Walcott's cross was met by replacement Olivier Giroud in the middle. The superb work, nevertheless, was damaged by his shot, which was hit hard but directly at Neuer -- the goalkeeper wouldn't have already been able to hold that shot out even when he'd wanted to. And then Bayern hit again. Robben got himself isolated in the heart against erstwhile remaining straight back Thomas Vermaelen, and the winger could discover Lahm on the overlap. The subsequent combination was achieved by some tangle of Mandzukic and Sagna at the post, and the ball looped over a hopeless Szczesny and slipped to the back of the net in what seemed like slow motion. Down 3-1, Arsenal didn't give up. Wilshere immediately received yet another save out of Neuer, though like Giroud before him his vicious effort was directed by him straight at the goalkeeper when he must have done better. However the guests were clearly the greater side, and Mario Gomez very nearly made four to it when his deflection required a save from Szczesny ahead of the striker blasted the jump high and wide. This indicates unlikely that Bayern can regret Gomez's miss. After an uneventful three full minutes of harm time, the Germans came far from the Emirates having an emphatic and thoroughly earned win. Up by two with three away goals, they are all but to the quarterfinals. Follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter
Like SB Nation Football on Facebook For more on the 2 teams, The Short Fuse is blogged by head over to Arsenal and Bayern Munich blog Bavarian Football Works.
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