Thomas Tuchel explains why Bayern Munich beat Arsenal in Champions League quarter-final
- Bayern Munich knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League with a 3-2 victory on aggregate
- Two sides played out a 2-2 draw before Joshua Kimmich's header sealed win for Bayern in the second leg
- Tuchel believes Bayern held a key advantage over Arsenal
By Tom Gott
Thomas Tuchel was full of praise for Arsenal after Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg but insisted the experience in his Bayern Munich side gave them the edge.
With Bayern enduring a difficult season domestically, Arsenal were the favourites heading into the tie, but a 2-2 draw in the first leg was followed by a 1-0 defeat in the return fixture as Bayern booked their spot in the semi-final.
After the game, Tuchel was keen to hail Arsenal's recent improvement but pointed to his side's big-game history for the edge.
"For me they are an elite team," Tuchel explained. "I know that Mikel [Arteta] maybe does not want to hear this.
"If you watch Arsenal games it's consistent, it's fun to watch, and every match something to learn. Maybe what they miss a little bit is experience in big games like this."
Arteta acknowledged that his Arsenal side perhaps are not ready to compete at such a high level, having only made their return to the Champions League this season.
"We haven't played in the competition for seven years, we haven’t been in this position for 14 years," he explained. "There's a reason for it, and we want to do everything.
"Fast forward, super quick in one season and after we had the capacity and the quality to be in the semi-final, because the margins have been very small. But those margins sometimes are coming from something else, that maybe we don’t have yet.
"We have to learn it, when you look historically, all the clubs to get to certain stages, it took them seven, eight, some of them ten years to do it. Today that is not going to make us feel better, that’s for sure."
READ THE LATEST ARSENAL NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP
feed