Arsenal Women v Bayern Munich preview

Wednesday, March 29 2023

Kick off 8pm 

UEFA Women’s Champions League

Emirates Stadium

Arsenal Women have to overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit if they are to progress into the semi-finals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time in ten years.

Lea Schuller’s 39th minute header was the difference at the Allianz Arena last week as Bayern held on to a narrow lead to take to North London. Both Williamson and Blackstenius had efforts cleared off the line in the second half, with Jonas Eidevall bemused about the fact that UEFA gives clubs the option of whether they choose to have goal line technology present in their home leg of the tie.

Bayern had decided against it whilst Arsenal will facilitate the technology at the Emirates tonight in a strange sub-plot to this quarter final. The first leg also saw more than one strong appeal for an Arsenal penalty waved away as well as what looked like an obvious back-pass in the six yard pass by a Bayern defender.

Despite the defeat, Arsenal know that a similar display to the first leg will surely give them plenty of opportunities in front of goal in a game where the Gunners have to score at least once to progress into the semis. Arsenal had 25 chances against Bayern and scored none of them, but hit five goals against Tottenham in the WSL on Saturday after creating two fewer chances. 

Caitlin Foord hit a brace against Spurs after a blistering display against Bayern and will look to terrorise the full-backs once again tonight. On the opposite flank on Saturday, January signing Victoria Pelova assisted both of Foord’s goals in an equally impressive performance that drew praise from Jonas Eidevall, who will now have to decide whether to start the Dutch winger against Bayern or continue on with Katie McCabe in a forward role as in the first leg.

Bayern have prided themselves on their defensive strength this season and this came to the fore again as Alexander Straus’ side moved to the top of the Frauen Bundesliga table with a crucial 1-0 win over title rivals Wolfsburg. If Bayern can do enough to go through at the Emirates after picking up their most important league result of the season then who knows what the Bavarian outfit could achieve both domestically and on the continent this season.

Tickets

20,000 tickets have already been sold, and the Arsenal supporters really can be the twelfth player tonight under the Emirates floodlights. See Arsenal.com for more 

How to watch

The game will, as always in the Champions League, be live on the DAZN UEFA Women’s Champions League YouTube channel, and the winner will take on either Wolfsburg or Paris Saint Germain in the semi finals. Wolfsburg have a 1-0 lead from the first leg and host the second on Thursday evening.

TV channel: In the UK, the game will be availabe to watch via DAZN, with kick-off at 8pm BST.

Live stream: The DAZN website will broadcast the game online and a free stream is also available via DAZN’s YouTube channel.