What do Arsenal need to qualify for the Champions League?
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The home side made their intentions known by showing early signs of a revenge and in the 12th minute the thrashing of Arsenal who have been impressive in the last three weeks began. At the break the game was sealed with a 3-0 advantage.
With a depth of squad that is the envy of most of Europe, Guardiola had the luxury of leaving Dutchman Arjen Robben on the bench for the first 55 minutes with wingers Kingsley Coman and Douglas Costa, both new signings, riding rough-shod over Arsenal.
Olivier Giroud pulled one back for Arsenal in the 69th.
Arsenal now face a giant task to to qualify from Champions League Group F after suffering a heavy loss at the hands Bayern Munich.
“We should not forget that Arsenal fielded a side similar to that of ours last season”, Guardiola added, referring to Bayern’s struggles with injury towards the end of last term. “From tonight we have no more injuries, apart from in their heads we have no more injuries”. Bayern was allowed to pass the ball around at will and used its possession to attack down the flanks and to score easily.
“It’s tough to take but in a way you have to accept that the team you were playing against was superior to us today in everything they did, especially in the first half”. We were extremely poor defensively, and we are not at the races.
Arsenal defense did not show up against Bayern – “With a defensive performance like that”, Wenger said, “you are going nowhere” – but Henry likes it now it has done since the summer signing of Petr Cech from Chelsea.
Cazorla should have added a second Arsenal goal minutes later, as Francis Coquelin found the midfielder in a good position, only for the former Malaga man to miss the target.
Neymar was the provider for Suarez who slotted home into the corner after 60 minutes.
The Bavarians had already fired three goals past hapless Arsenal in a superb first-half display.
GROUP G: Willian produced on a late free kick to give Chelsea a 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev.
A four-game winless run had ratcheted the pressure on embattled manager Jose Mourinho, whose future at Stamford Bridge appears to be jeopardized.
‘He is an awesome player”, said Henry, “a World Cup victor, with the touch, the vision, but he wasn’t always doing it on a daily basis with Arsenal. “A reaction to a negative moment”.
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Porto moved closer to a place in the knockout stage after easing to a 3-1 victory at Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
