Carl Jenkinson appreciates the vast talent in the Bayern Munich ranks but he says Arsenal will not fear the German giants ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 tie.
Goals from Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller and Mario Mandzukic fired Bayern to a 3-1 victory in February’s first leg at Emirates Stadium, meaning Arsenal will need to score three times to have any chance of progressing at the Allianz Arena.
Jenkinson was impressed by how Jupp Heynckes’ side performed in the first match, but he has not lost hope of a quarter-final place.
“They’re a good, well-oiled team,” he told Arsenal Player. “They play very well as a unit and as a team. They’ve got outstanding individuals but what impressed me about them is how they play together.
"They look like a team the way they play. They all press and drop together and it was impressive to watch"
“They look like a team the way they play. They all press and drop together and it was impressive to watch. They are a very good team but so are we so we won’t be going there scared.
“We’ll have belief in ourselves. When you’ve got to turn a deficit around like we have to, you have to believe. I do believe it’s possible [to qualify] and I think we’ve got a good chance of doing it.”
Last season Arsenal rallied from a 4-0 first-leg deficit against AC Milan to win the return game 3-0 at the Emirates - a result which Jenkinson says will give the squad belief.
“Everyone completely dismissed us after the first leg and we really got them in the ropes in that [second] game,” he said.” We were outstanding. That will give us confidence - how we responded in that tie.
“Of course that was at home and we’re away now, but if we can do it against a team like Milan, we can do it against a team like Bayern as well. It’s more than within our reach.”
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.