Bayern Munich have rarely looked themselves this season. But on Tuesday night at the Emirates, playing against type was a productive ploy for the soon-to-be deposed German champions. The visitors approached the first leg of the quarter-final against Mikel Arteta’s novices like outsiders rather than European nobility, happy to contend with only 40 per cent of possession and to bet on counter-attacks with varying degrees of sophistication.
Bayern’s rope-a-dope tactics in a big European knockout tie were faintly reminiscent of the way they blocked and tackled their way to a penalty shootout triumph in the 2001 final of the Champions League. But there are more recent echoes as well. , was notable for the record title holders’ strategic passivity off the ball and reliance on transitions, as was the 3-0 victory over overachieving Stuttgart in December.