Thomas Tuchel has singled out Konrad Laimer for particular praise after Bayern Munich’s Champions League win over Arsenal and revealed how he neutralised Martin Odegaard.
The Bundesliga giants progressed to the semi-finals of the tournament – where they will now take on Real Madrid – after securing a 1-0 victory (3-2 on aggregate) at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.
After a somewhat cagey first half, Bayern stepped up a gear after the restart, hitting the woodwork through Leon Goretzka shortly before Joshua Kimmich arrived unmarked in the box to head his side into the next round.
Bayern actually racked up 11 shots in the second half compared to just two from Arsenal – neither of which were on target – with Manuel Neuer enjoying a relatively quiet evening.
Part of the reason for that was a rare off night for skipper Odegaard, who only managed to set up one chance and was constantly hounded by Laimer.
Tuchel has now praised the Austrian midfielder for the very specific job he did on the Arsenal captain, while he also lauded Noussair Mazraoui for shackling Bukayo Saka despite switching to the opposite flank.
Asked what he was most proud of from the match, Tuchel said: ‘The team performance, and I’m very proud of Konni [Laimer] too.
‘Of course we defended against them in the block, but Konni really stuck to Odegaard, played half a man-marker role.
‘And Nous [Mazraoui] too, who played on the left for the first time. Everyone worked very, very hard.’
Goalscorer and man of the match Kimmich, meanwhile, thought Bayern were full value for their win and deserved to progress.
‘In general, the first half was a bit nervous for both teams,’ explained the German, who had an excellent game at right-back.
‘Nobody wanted to take the final risk. You could tell that Arsenal wanted to control the game, but they were still afraid of our counter-attacks.
‘We came out very well in the second half and had a very good chance from Leon. We continued to have dangerous attacks after that.
‘Even after taking the 1-0 lead, I would say we definitely did better in the second half, played better, played more determinedly and we deserved to progress.’
Arsenal have now failed to win their last three matches and have struggled when facing mid-block defences, with a much-improved display required when they visit Molineux to take on Wolves on Saturday in the Premier League.
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