Arsenal need to be fast and fortunate to beat Bayern again - Ancelotti

goal.com

Although the Bavarians were defeated 2-0 by the Gunners last month, the ex-Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain coach believes Pep Guardiola's team remain the far superior side.

As a Goal columnist, Carlo Ancelotti will provide his expertise and insight on this season’s Champions League through an exclusive series of columns and videos.

Carlo Ancelotti believes Arsenal will find it very difficult to beat Bayern Munich again when the two teams meet in Germany on Wednesday.

The Gunners went into their Champions League double-header with the Bavarians a fortnight ago on the brink of elimination after losing their opening two group fixtures, but revived their hopes of reaching the knockout stage with a shock 2-0 win in London.

Ancelotti, who predicted a Bayern win in that game, believes it will be much harder for Arsenal to conquer Pep Guardiola's men at the Allianz Arena this time around.

“Arsenal beating Bayern was a big surprise but this is football," the veteran coach told Goal. 

"Arsenal have changed a lot and now, more than ever, they exploit the speed of their attacking players.

 

"Against Bayern they defended well and took advantage of the pace of their attackers. This is the only way Arsenal can beat Bayern.

"But in Munich it will be very, very hard. In the end, they won because of a mistake from the best goalkepeer in the world, Manuel Neuer."

Ancelotti achieved a famous victory in Munich with Real Madrid en route to Champions League glory in 2013-14 - triumphing 4-0 in the second leg of their semi-final.

Ancelotti added: "When Guardiola left Barcelona everybody was saying that it would be impossible to replicate the same type of game at another team without Iniesta, Xavi and so on. Instead, he did it with different players. I think he really deserves a lot of credit.

“I don’t think that the Bundesliga is making Bayern less competitive in the Champions League. But I can say that in 2014 when we played against them with Madrid they had won the league in March and they were missing a little bit of competitive spirit.

"I think this is the only risk, if you win the league so early then the team can relax a little bit too much. But don’t forget that in the last two years they always reached the semi-finals, so they were really close to winning the Champions League."

Bayern are five points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga having dropped points for the first time this season on Friday, when Eintracht Frankfurt held them to a goalless draw.