After an exciting Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Bayern Munich, Arsenal struck back to claim a 2-2 draw, depriving Harry Kane of a dream return to north London.
At a boisterous Emirates Stadium, Tottenham’s all-time top scorer scored his 15th goal in 20 career games against the Gunners, turning in a first-half penalty to put the German team ahead.
But when Bukayo Saka’s early goal was cancelled out by former Arsenal forward Serge Gnabry, substitute Leandro Trossard left the tie perfectly poised ahead of next week’s return encounter.
Read Also:Arsenal vs Bayern : Tuchel labels Arteta’s team as “the best in Premier League”
Six-time European champions Bayern nearly had a winner in the ninetieth minute when Kingsley Coman struck the post, and in an exciting finish, Saka was denied a spot-kick in added time after Manuel Neuer challenged him.
Throughout the entire match, England captain Kane acted as the villain of the farce. In addition to scoring his 39th goal of an incredible season, he also had the option of being sent out for elbowing Gabriel in the neck.
In the midst of a terror threat from the Islamic State, Bayern came to England about to lose the Bundesliga title for the first time in twelve years, behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen by sixteen points.
Due to a UEFA fine issued for supporters throwing fireworks onto the pitch during Bayern’s last-16 triumph over Lazio, the sold-out stadium was devoid of travelling spectators.
However, the presence of former Tottenham players Kane and Eric Dier, together with Gnabry, provided more excitement to an already intriguing contest.
With barely 12 minutes remaining, Saka’s magic had the partisan fans making an unbearable racket, and Thomas Tuchel’s players were shaking.
After some defensive hesitancy, Ben White released the England international inside Bayern’s half, and he duly unleashed a superb first-time curling finish into the bottom left corner to ignite the crowd.
But after 30 minutes, as Kane delighted in hushed the terraces, their typically solid backline gave way once more, expensively.
The only thing stopping Leroy Sane’s crazy run from halfway was William Saliba’s dangling leg.
Raya then moved early, and Kane calmly rolled the ball into the bottom right corner from 12 yards out to further frustrate Spurs’ fiercest opponents.
After the early breakthrough joy, Arsenal might have easily trailed by two goals at halftime, needing last-ditch efforts from Martin Odegaard and White to save Sane from scoring when clean through.
Arsenal was struggling to produce, but they came back to the pitch with newfound purpose.
After catching Gabriel and getting away with it, Kane saw a long-range attempt miss the mark, but Bayern was still dangerous when they broke quickly.
As the clock was running out and a miserable evening was anticipated, Mikel Arteta’s Premier League leaders tied the score.
After creating space inside Bayern’s box, Gabriel Jesus set up fellow substitution Trossard to score past Neuer and turn up the volume in the bottom left corner.
A tense match threatened to take another turn when Bayern replacement Coman prodded against the goal’s frame.
Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg was jeered off after not penalising Neuer for what appeared to be a trip on Saka.