The German tactician will be fighting for his life, and he will be relishing the return leg with Mikel Arteta's inexperienced Gunners

Thomas Tuchel faces the biggest match of his ill-fated Bayern Munich tenure on Wednesday, as Arsenal enter the cauldron of the Allianz Arena. It's not just a Champions League semi-final place that's at stake, however, with the former Chelsea boss fighting for his managerial life.

A nightmarish domestic campaign has seen Bayern's Bundesliga dominance finally ended by Xabi Alonso's brilliant Bayer Leverkusen, and Tuchel's fate is already decided as he prepares to part company with the Bavarian giants at the end of the season.

With his future far from certain, the German tactician will not want to go quietly, with the Champions League offering a chance for salvation and to restore a reputation that has taken a bashing this season. There is nothing more dangerous than a man with nothing to lose and, after the 2-2 draw with the Gunners in the first leg, Tuchel will sense an opportunity.

(C)Getty ImagesTuchel's only job

When Bayern dramatically sacked Julian Nagelsmann and pivoted swiftly to the out-of-work Tuchel in March 2023, it was widely reported that one of the reasons he had been brought on board was his pedigree in the Champions League, with the club hierarchy viewing his availability as an opportunity that was too good to pass up.

Ultimately, Bayern would fall well short of claiming European football's top prize, as they were thumped by eventual winners Manchester City in the last eight by an aggregate score of 4-1, and they would only scrape to victory in the Bundesliga title race as Borussia Dortmund capitulated on the final day of the season.

Die Roten do not even have their customary Bundesliga triumph to fall back on this time around, as their vice-like grip on the trophy has been ripped away, with Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen clinching a first-ever league title having opened up an unassailable 16-point gap to their nearest challengers, Bayern and Stuttgart. After seeing their cup challenge humiliatingly ended by third-tier Saarbrucken, the Champions League is all Tuchel and co have left to play for.

"I like to be focused on as many trophies as possible, but that’s the way it is,” the coach admitted to. "It helps if we face reality. The reality is, we lacked consistency in the Bundesliga, we lacked hunger, we lacked intensity throughout the matches. That’s just the way it is. We have to face it.

"[The Champions League] is a different competition, we are in the quarter-finals. This is what we expect, what I expect from myself. But now we are here, it’s only about showing our top level and showing the best version of yourself, showing character and grit."

AdvertisementGettyChampions League master

Bayern certainly showed that character and grit in part one of their quarter-final against Arsenal, holding their much-fancied hosts to a creditable draw away from home and arguably doing enough to deserve a first-leg victory.

Indeed, those characteristics were the backbone of the unfancied Chelsea side he guided to an unlikely Champions League crown in 2021, a year after he had taken Paris Saint-Germain to their first-ever final, and if anyone was doubting Bayern's credentials in Europe this season, they will have sat up and taken notice of the gutsy display in north London.

If Tuchel's success with the Blues tells us anything, it's that he thrives as the underdog with his back against the wall – not something the Bavarian giants are accustomed to at domestic level; things evidently haven't worked out in the Bundesliga, where Bayern are perennial favourites, but with their stock plummeting to its lowest point for more or less a decade, in a similar fall from grace to the one Chelsea have experienced, it may well suit the manager and his players to be underestimated on the continent.

GettyArsenal's away-day blues

And having orchestrated a confident, authoritative tactical performance at the Emirates to avoid defeat on the road, Tuchel will smell blood ahead of the reverse fixture. They may well be favourites against Germany's fallen giants, but a glance at Arsenal's away record in the Champions League this season suggests the draw in north London means the playing field has been levelled.

Mikel Arteta's side have won just one of four away games in Europe this season, which came against Spanish strugglers Sevilla way back in October. Despite having a favourable initial draw, the Gunners lost to Lens and drew with PSV in the group phase, and suffered a late defeat to Porto on the road in their last-16 first leg.

Bayern, meanwhile, are unbeaten at home in the Champions League knockout rounds since 2021, when Mauricio Pochettino's PSG secured a dramatic 3-2 victory in a quarter-final first leg. They have also achieved a competition-record 40 group-stage games unbeaten, home and away. Despite their struggles domestically, Tuchel's men have only lost twice on home soil in the Bundesliga, although one of those reverses did come recently against Dortmund.

In the bygone days of the away goals rule, it was always seen as a significant advantage to play a second leg at home, and Bayern also have that benefit on Wednesday having survived without their fans at the Emirates.

Getty Naive Gunners

Sunday's shock defeat to Aston Villa aside, Arsenal's Champions League performances have been in stark contrast to their controlled, dominant displays in the Premier League this season, where they have shown mettle and maturity.

Their European forays have delivered nervy performances where they have looked vulnerable to every attack, with some players wilting in the intense and hostile atmospheres the competition is famed for.
The Gunners' group-stage draw arguably should have yielded six wins from six games as they were pitted against PSV, Sevilla and Lens. However, in France, Arsenal relinquished a lead to slip to a humiliating 2-1 defeat to the overachieving Ligue 1 team – albeit via two stunning goals. Arteta's men then edged Sevilla away, but were unable to best PSV in Eindhoven having already qualified, once again allowing their opponents back into the game.

In the last 16, the north Londoners were pushed all the way by unfancied Porto, losing at the death in Portugal after a blunt and nervous display, before being unable to see their stubborn opponents off in normal time in the second leg in London, eventually prevailing on penalties.

At times they have looked every bit a side that is inexperienced this level, lacking any sort of European authority, with this their first Champions League campaign in seven years.

Having been in control of the first encounter with Bayern, leading through Bukayo Saka's effort, Arsenal conceded two wholly avoidable goals – first through an error from Gabriel and goalkeeper David Raya, before William Saliba conceded a penalty after Leroy Sane's run had been allowed to dissect the Arsenal defence – to hand their visitors the initiative, with Die Roten looking far more comfortable on Europe's biggest stage for the most part despite being considered underdogs.