UWCL 2022/2023: How Arsenal Women excluded Bayern Munich Frauen using quick passing – tactical analysis

Arsenal Women have just qualified for the UWCL’s semi-finals for the first time ever after beating Bayern Munich Frauen 2-1 on aggregate.

Arsenal lost the first leg with a 1-0 final score that gave the advantage to the Bavarians. However, they knew how to turn the tables in the second leg at the Emirates Stadium by winning 0-2 which was sufficient for granting them the semi-finals ticket. In fact, Arsenal played a very convincing match from both the attacking and the defensive aspects and confirmed that they deserve to be among the final four of the tournament.

So in addition to battling Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City in the WSL, Arsenal will aim at reaching the UWCL final as well since they proved that they can surpass world-class teams like Bayern Munich.

Their upcoming challenge will be to beat Wolfsburg Women in the semi-finals and this will surely not be an easy task since the German team have the experience needed in UWCL and proved on several occasions that they can beat most European teams. The positive news will be the fact that Arsenal will play the second leg at home and therefore this will give them the chance to tackle the semi-finals in a similar approach to the way they approached the quarter-finals while trying to not concede goals in the first leg to make their mission easier.

On the other hand, Bayern Munich disappointed their fans in this quarter-finals’ second leg since they failed to react concretely to Arsenal’s two goals since they weren’t able to shoot on goal throughout the match and risked conceding one or two additional goals as well.

In this tactical analysis article, we will be exploring Arsenal’s convincing performance and tactics while shedding some light on Bayern Munich’s defensive and attacking issues.

Lineups

Jonas Eidevall started the match according to the 4-2-3-1 formation with Manuela Zinsberger as a goalkeeper, Noelle Maritz, Leah Williamson, Rafaelle Souza and Katie McCabe in defence, Kim Little and Lia Wälti as central midfielders, Victoria Pelova and Caitlin Foord on the wings while Frida Maanum was the team’s playmaker and played just below the striker, Stina Blackstenius.

On the other hand, Alexander Straus opted for the 4-4-2 formation relying on Maria Luisa Grohs as a goalkeeper, Maximiliane Rall, Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir, Saki Kumagai and Tuva Hansen in defence, Sarah Zadrazil and Georgia Stanway as central midfielders, Franziska Kett and Klara Bühl as wingers while Lina Magull and Lea Schüller formed the attacking duo.

Arsenal’s convincing performance

Arsenal were successful in turning the table on Bayern Munich in this second leg mainly thanks to their excellent attacking performance and the great quality of their passing and movement without the ball inside the final third. Players like Maanum, Foord and Blackstenius made the difference with their continuous agility and capacity to beat their opponents in direct confrontations.