Arsenal lost Bukayo Saka inside ten minutes, watched Harry Kane pick their defence apart twice, and still walked out of the Allianz Arena with a point. Declan Rice saw to that, exchanging passes with Viktor Gyokeres before dragging a low shot into the bottom corner late on to finish a 2-2 draw that neither side fully controlled.
Saka limps out of a night he had started well
The worry came early and it came without warning. Saka went down after ten minutes with nobody within several yards of him, attempting a pass and then pulling up with what looked like a thigh problem. He had been sharp in those opening exchanges. He did not come back out, and Eberechi Eze came on in his place.
Eze made the substitution look inspired within half an hour. Martin Odegaard slid a pass through the Bayern line in the 35th minute and Eze finished low into the corner, though the celebration had to wait while the video assistant referee overturned an offside flag. For a player whose season has been picked over at length, it was the kind of goal that quietens a conversation.
Kane turns it with a pass and a penalty
Arsenal led for ten minutes. Kane collected the ball in midfield, looked up, and split the back line with a pass that Alphonso Davies ran onto and finished. It was the kind of ball Kane had been threatening all evening, and it dropped behind four defenders at once.
He then put Bayern ahead himself. His shot struck Jurrien Timber's hand inside the box, the referee pointed to the spot, and Kane sent David Raya the wrong way from twelve yards. Bayern sensed a third. They did not get it, partly because Raya had already produced a strong low save from Serge Gnabry in the first half and an even better one from Dayot Upamecano after the break.
Rice again, and a near miss at the death
Rice has made a habit of being the Arsenal player still running when the game asks for someone. Gyokeres, on for Kai Havertz, laid the ball back to him and he hit it first time across Manuel Neuer and inside the post. Arsenal did not settle for the draw either. Timber, who had been caught out for one of the goals, forced Neuer into an acrobatic stop before the whistle.
Mikel Arteta will take the point and worry about the rest. A trip to Munich with a thin attacking group was always a test of depth, and by the end he had Myles Lewis-Skelly, Mikel Merino and Gyokeres all on the pitch. What happens to Saka over the next fortnight matters more to Arsenal's autumn than anything that happened in the 90 minutes.
Match facts: Bayern Munich 2-2 Arsenal, Allianz Arena, Champions League league phase. Eze opened the scoring in the 35th minute; Davies and Kane (penalty) turned it for Bayern; Rice equalised late. Substitutions: Eze for Saka (10), Gyokeres for Havertz (68), Lewis-Skelly for Bruno Guimaraes (69), Merino for Odegaard (85). BBC Sport rated Rice and Eze 8 out of 10, Saka 5.
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