Defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin met with the media after Arsenal’s 2-0 win against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.
The Frenchman discussed how Bayern are a hard team to beat, but stated that it was Arsenal’s good start in the first half that paved the way for this much-needed win.
It is always difficult against Bayern but I thought we started well and we created a big chance with Theo in the first half but we didn’t put it in the net. The second half was always going to be tough but Olivier scored a great goal and after we felt that we could keep the heat on and after the second it was game over.
Coquelin stated that the Gunners were aware that the Bavarians would take control of the ball before the game even started. For him, counter-attacking works well against elite teams.
We knew Bayern would have a lot of the ball, but in the recent games against the big teams we have not had as much possession and counter-attacked. It worked well again here and everyone defended really well and we didn’t concede any goals, so I am really pleased with the performance.

Arsenal have not had a good start to their Champions League campaign, having suffered avoidable losses against both Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos. Coquelin talked about the turnaround on Tuesday night, where his team managed to put these two losses behind them and emerged victorious against one of Europe’s best teams.
In the first two games we didn’t perform and we knew we had to win here to stay in the competition. We have been doing really well in the league and we had to do that in the Champions League too, and we have done that so we have to carry on in that way.
With this win, Arsenal are the first team to beat Bayern Munich this season, putting an end to the Bavarians’ 12-game winning streak.
The Gunners will be facing Bayern once again when they travel to the Allianz Arena in two weeks time.





