Arsenal hero Martin Keown has slammed one Gunners star for showing his ‘lack of experience’ in the Champions League during their 1-0 loss away to Bayern Munich.
Der FCB dumped the north London giants out of Europe on Wednesday night with a narrow affair. A sole goal from Joshua Kimmich (63’) proved the difference to give Bayern Munich a semi-final date with Real Madrid. The Bavarian club won the quarter-final 3-2 on aggregate.
Bayern Munich showed their experience as six-time winners of UEFA’s elite club competition to control Arsenal at Allianz Arena. The Gunners gained a foothold in the first half. But Mikel Arteta did not see his players deliver after the break as Bayern Munich nullified their threat.
Bukayo Saka spurned Arsenal’s last chance to equalise vs Bayern Munich
Arsenal struggled to find a way to break Bayern Munich down as Thomas Tuchel’s team sat in deep. Der FCB were happy for the Gunners to move the ball around and wait for a chance to break. Kimmich’s header also came from a moment of lax defending from the away team.
Raphael Guerriero seized possession as the ball broke free and lifted a perfect cross into the Gunners’ box. No Arsenal player reacted quick enough as Kimmich burst away from Gabriel Martinelli to break the deadlock. Bayern Munich scoring also silenced Arsenal’s momentum.
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But Arsenal had a late chance to force extra time when Kim Min-Jae fouled Bukayo Saka just outside Bayern Munich’s box. Yet rather than try to test Manuel Neuer in the 95th minute as the time ticked down, Saka quickly took the free-kick to Ben White, whose shot got blocked.
Martin Keown feels Bukayo Saka showed his ‘lack of experience’ in the Champions League
Saka would even waste Arsenal’s resulting corner, before referee Danny Makkelie called time on Bayern Munich’s win and the Gunners’ Champions League campaign. But the 22-year-old opting to feed White the ball with a quick free-kick left Keown with a strong sense of regret.
Keown said on TNT Sports: “It was very disappointing, kind of summed up at the end when Saka for some reason took a free-kick [short] when there was the opportunity to really test the goalkeeper.
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“You just saw that little bit of [a] lack of experience. There needs to be more urgency in the closing exchanges. Saka made that decision in the moment.
“I admire that, as well. But I think he might have been better taking that delivery from the free kick and it might have been a wonder goal. You wanted to see the ball going in the box. That urgency wasn’t there and I think that’s a lack of experience.”
Wednesday night was Saka’s ninth career game in the Champions League, having featured in UEFA’s elite club competition for the first time this term. The 32-cap England winger has also scored four and assisted four goals. He also struck one in their first leg with Bayern Munich.