By segun oniyide
The holders dominated much of Wednesday’s round-of-16 second leg at the Allianz Arena and, despite being unable to secure a deserved win on the night, they progressed 3-1 on aggregate following their first-leg victory in London.
The Bavarian giants progressed on away goals against Wenger’s men just over 12 months ago but this was a far more comfortable victory and Bayern were left to dream of becoming the first team since AC Milan in 1990 retain their European crown.
Guardiola had called on his side to be positive and deprive Arsenal of possession and they adhered to his orders in the opening stages, with Schweinsteiger forcing Fabianski into an early save with a long-range drive.
Bayern were dictating the play and Javi Martinez found the back of the net with a volley 26 minutes in but the Spaniard was correctly flagged for offside, then Laurent Koscielny was well positioned to get in the way of the lively Robben’s shot.
It appeared to be only a matter of time before Guardiola’s team went in front and the opening goal duly arrived 10 minutes after the break when Ribery was afforded too much time to pick out Schweinsteiger and the midfielder finished clinically.
Bayern were only in front for two minutes but had every right to feel aggrieved with Podolski‘s equaliser after their former player appeared to push Germany team-mate Lahm before beating Manuel Neuer at his near post with a vicious left-footed strike.
