It was an evening to remember at Emirates Stadium as we beat Bayern Munich 2-0 to secure our place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time in a decade.
A UK-record attendance of 21,307 for a Women's Champions League match watched on as Frida Maanum and Stina Blackstenius got on the scoresheet to complete our comeback from a first-leg defeat.
What happened
Despite the 1-0 defeat in the first leg at Allianz Arena, our Gunners showed absolutely no sign of compromising in order to chase the aggregate loss. From the first whistle to the last, we played with belief, confidence and style.
An early chance fell to Victoria Pelova in the box after some neat work from Frida Maanum and Caitlin Foord, but our Dutch winger was swamped by Bayern defenders and was unable to get a shot away.
We were dealt a humungous blow only ten minutes in as captain Kim Little was fouled through on goal and was forced to limp off. Little handed the armband to Leah Williamson, was replaced by Lotte Wubben-Moy and from that moment on, we played for our skipper.
With just under 20 minutes played, Frida Maanum changed the tie with an exquisite strike. After working the ball around the box, a perfect backheel from Leah Williamson set up our Norwegian midfielder to blast the ball into the top left corner. Emirates Stadium erupted.
After levelling the tie on aggregate, our forward line soon looked thoroughly unstoppable, bearing down on Bayern's goal for another goal. Stina Blackstenius was the one to deservedly double our advantage in the 27th minute, getting on the end of Katie McCabe’s cross to head home.
Our newly-anointed skipper Williamson nearly made it three on the half-hour mark, but her header went just north of the crossbar. This chance was followed by countless others and goalmouth scrambles, but it somehow remained 2-0.
Minutes before the half-time whistle, Lotte Wubben-Moy hit what would have been a wonder-goal with a cross-cum-shot, that beat Grohs in the Bayern net but was cruelly denied by the underside of the crossbar.
Katie McCabe came close after the break with a superb solo dribble through the Bayern backline before her shot was put behind for a corner.
After weathering a spell of pressure from the visitors, we broke on the counter through Pelova. She drove at the Bayern backline and laid it off to Maanum whose guided backheel pass found Foord one-on-one with the keeper. In a rare miss from our Aussie winger, she misjudged the angle and skied the chance over the bar.
Despite a late surge from the visitors and seven minutes of added time, we held our nerve to progress to a historic Champions League semi-final against VfL Wolfsburg.
What it means
Tonight's victory means that we progress to the UEFA Women's Champions League semi-finals for the first time in a decade. VfL Wolfsburg are our next test in the competition - a familiar opponent who knocked us out at last year's quarter-final stage.
Tickets for our home leg are on sale now!
Team news
Arsenal Starting XI: Zinsberger (GK), Maritz, Williamson, Rafaelle, McCabe (Hurtig, 89), Walti, Little (C) (Wubben-Moy, 10), Maanum, Pelova (Wienroither, 77), Foord, Blackstenius (Beattie, 89)
Subs not used: D'Angelo, Marckese, Goldie, Reid, Kuhl, Agyemang
Bayern Munich Starting XI: Grohs (GK), Rall (Laurent, 79) Viggosdottir, Kumagai, Hansen, Zadrazil (Lohmann, 79), Stanway, Magull (C), Buhl, Kett (Damnjanovic, 64), Schuller
Subs not used: Bernkarth (GK), Runarsdottir (GK), Bragstad, Vilhjamsdottir, Landenberger, Gloning, Rudelic
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