Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the first leg of Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich. All four of the matches in this competition, today and tomorrow, have been the subject of a terrorist threat made on social media, purportedly on behalf of Islamic State. The four games, at the Emirates, Bernabéu and tomorrow at Parc des Princes and Metropolitano, are going ahead.
It would not be the first time that a football stadium and crowd have been targeted, the suicide bombers at Stade de France on Nov 13, 2015 were the first of a series of coordinated attacks on Paris and a match against Germany and Netherlands in Hannover was called off four days later after a tip-off. A Metropolitan Police statement said today that the force has been working closely with Counter Terrorism Police while planning for the match.
“We’re aware of online and media reports in relation to calls to target matches across Europe and here in London,” the police said. “However, I want to reassure the public that we have a robust policing plan in place for tonight’s match and we continue to work closely alongside the club’s security team to ensure that the match passes peacefully. As ever, we ask the public to remain vigilant, and if they see any that doesn’t look or feel right, then report it to police or security staff.”
By contrast, as Phil Bull, the founder of Timeform famously put it, sport is our “magnificent triviality”. But if all goes well as we hope and the threats mercifully turn out to be empty, we are here to report on a football match, a fourth meeting in the knockout stages of the Champions League, all ties won by Bayern. Arsenal, however, are in far sharper shape than they were in 2013. 2014 and 2017, top of the league and in pole position to win their first title for 20 years.
Yes, they needed penalties to scrape past Porto in the Round of 16 but everyone bar Jurrien Timber is fit and they take on a Bayern side who were awful in Rome in the R16, have lost their last two in the league and have already announced that missing out on a 12th successive Bundesliga title will cost Thomas Tuchel his job. Their defence is uncharacteristically shaky, the midfield isn’t functioning and the side looks less than the sum of its parts but they do have Harry Kane who has scored 38 goals in 37 appearances. He also has, as Arsenal fans know only too well, scored 14 goals in North London derbies in 19 appearances. Bayern may be sickly, but they still have sharp teeth.
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