On Wednesday evening, Bayern Munich overcame Arsenal 1-0 at the Allinaz Arena in their Champions League quarter-final second leg to ensure they would join Borussia Dortmund in the semi-final stage. With both Bundesliga clubs advancing, they also boosted the league’s chances of obtaining a fifth Champions League spot.
With Bayer Leverkusen progressing past West Ham on Thursday evening, it is now almost guaranteed that the Bundesliga will receive a further spot based on the UEFA coefficient rankings. Regardless, with Bayern and Dortmund in the final four, they now face the disadvantage that they escaped in the quarter-finals: both sides will be at home in the first leg of their respective ties.
In the quarter-final stage, Bayern and Dortmund had the luxury of knowing that if they could grind out a respectable result, then they would have their home atmospheres to push them through the second leg. For both sides, this was a significant factor in their progression.
Der Rekordmeister used their home advantage to prevent Arsenal from dominating parts of the game, while Dortmund came from behind to knock out Atlético Madrid. However, now they will need to try and earn positive results in the first leg or face an uphill battle on their travels.
While this may be a setback, in 2013, Dortmund and Bayern were in the same predicament. Nevertheless, they would go on to win their home ties in convincing fashion, meaning that the subsequent second-leg fixtures did not prove to be nail-biting affairs.
As well as this, their reward was a place in the showpiece event, against each other, at Wembley. Could history repeat itself one more time?
GGFN | Will Shopland
