Young stars Musiala and Saka duel for spotlight in Champions League clash
At the end of an intense and spectacular first leg, which was full of twists and turns and ended in a 2-2 draw, everything remains to be done in this confrontation between the Munich side and the Londoners, who are neck and neck to challenge Manchester City or Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
Having been ousted by Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, Bayern now have only the Champions League to salvage their season. However, the six-time European champions have not reached the last four since their last triumph, against PSG in Lisbon at the end of August 2020. At the time, Jamal Musiala was still just 'Bambi', a nickname inherited from his youth.
The Stuttgart-born striker, who moved to England with his family as a child, has always flaunted his precociousness: in Chelsea's U18 team at 15, a Bayern player and captain of the England U17s (where he played alongside the current Gunners, goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale and striker Eddie Nketiah), a German international at 18.
Since then, he has become a bigger part of the Bavarians' game, ending the 2022/23 season with an 88th-minute goal in Cologne, helping them to an 11th consecutive German league title, enough to ensure his entry into the club's legend at just 20 years of age.
Hampered at the start of the season by injury, he had a big month in March with four goals and three assists in the league, and two assists for his country.
In the opposite camp, Saka is only 22, but he has already amassed a wealth of experience, both in the Premier League (165 appearances) and for England (32 caps).
The first leg for Saka
All he needed was the Champions League to compare himself with the continent's finest, and that is now the case. The London-born player had yet to pull on a professional shirt when Arsenal, his parent club, last played in the Champions League in 2017.
It was precisely because of this inexperience that former England international Rio Ferdinand refused to label him a "world-class player" back in February.
"I think Saka has been incredible", but "he hasn't (proved himself) in the Champions League, has he? I'm talking about the trickier moments," he said on Vibe with FIVE, referring to the spring's crucial matches.
The Gunners' number seven did not respond to those comments, but since then he has come into his own with a steady stream of strikes and some flattering statistics, too. He wore down Porto's defence and got his penalty on target in the second leg of the Round of 16, despite the enormous pressure on his shoulders.
Against Bayern in the first leg, he opened the scoring during the first quarter of an hour in which he put Alphonso Davies to the sword (cautioned as early as nine minutes in and suspended for the return leg). And he won his long-range duel with the more subdued Musiala. Before the return leg in Germany, Saka had been involved in eight goals (four goals, four assists) in his first eight matches in European football's premier competition.
A win on Wednesday would take the England international even closer to Wembley, the stadium where the final will be played, and with which he has a score to settle. He missed his penalty in the Euro final against Italy in 2021.
Saka is on a mission to give Arsenal the first Champions League title in their history, on home soil. In Munich, Musiala will be trying to help Bayern get past the quarter-finals, their last hurdle in 2021 (Paris Saint-Germain), 2022 (Villarreal) and 2023 (Man City).