Арсенал болон Бавари Мюнхен багуудын ширүүн өрсөлдөөн тэнцээгээр өндөрлөв

There had been a fitness test with a difference. The Bayern Munich manager had been a doubt but a virus could not prevent Vincent Kompany from taking up his place on the touchline.

No wonder he reported himself fit. Clearly Kompany knew what to expect. He didn’t want to miss this. “I feel better,” he said, energised by the excellence on show. If it proves an irrelevant classic, this was hugely entertaining nonetheless. Perhaps it was inconclusive, with no winner, and maybe such group games are more inevitable when these clubs are likely to get top-eight finishes, but it was terrific – a thriller laced with high-class contributions from a cast list of luminaries.

When it was shaping up as Harry Kane’s night – or another of Harry Kane’s nights – the England captain was frustrated by his deputy. Declan Rice had the final say, and earned Arsenal a point they deserved with a goal to sum up their sudden blend of power and positivity.

Rice surged into the box, exchanging passes with Viktor Gyokeres, and drove a shot past Manuel Neuer. The midfielder would have been a Bayern player if Thomas Tuchel had got his way during his Anglo-centric recruitment in 2023. Arsenal have had plenty of reasons to be grateful Rice chose them instead.

Yet his was far from the only starring role. Take Kane, who was majestic at times. He showed two halves of his game, the glorious pass and the calm finish as he got an assist and his guarantee of a goal. He was creator and scorer. Kane netted in a 10th straight Champions League game, only one behind Cristiano Ronaldo’s all-time record. And if the caveat is that his goal was a penalty, it was one he won himself with a goalbound shot that Jurrien Timber handled.

Even without the suspended Michael Olise and the demoted Luis Diaz, Bayern had the talent of their talisman. Kane assumed more playmaking duties. There were times when Ezri Konsa tried following him, but when Kane went into the kind of positions the injured Joshua Kimmich normally occupies for Bayern, he had to stop. His pass for Alphonso Davies’ opener was superb, guided in behind the Arsenal defence for the Canadian to slot a shot past David Raya.

But if it was a night for goalscorers, it was for goalkeepers, too. They traded magnificent saves. Arsenal’s uncharacteristic lack of set-piece goals has been a feature of their start to the season but they almost had one, Bruno Guimaraes meeting Rice’s corner with a header that Neuer did brilliantly to save and tip on to the bar.

David Raya excelled, too, his save from Dayot Upamecano another reason why, even though this had four goals, the scoreline could have been rather bigger.

Boring, boring Arsenal? Not a bit of it. This was spellbinding, a clash of genuine heavyweights that featured plenty of drama, at times veering from end to end with no pause. Arsenal arrived with ambition. They departed rewarded. There might be duller ways to procure a point. “I would take the draw but that doesn’t mean we are happy,” Mikel Arteta said.

Few sides will cause Arsenal as many problems on the counter-attack as Bayern did, aided by Davies’ lightning pace and Serge Gnabry’s wonderful crossing.

Gnabry, whose Gunners career was brief, was another thwarted by Raya while he provided a lovely ball for Ismael Saibari when the summer signing shot into the side netting. Bayern’s capacity for piercing passes was also shown by Kane, to supply Davies; perhaps it was a goal to explain why the speedster was preferred to Diaz. “We expected Luis Diaz to start,” admitted Arteta. It was the first goal Arsenal had conceded in this season’s Champions League.

But, for the first time in seven games, they scored a first-half goal. It was quite a goal, too, an example of counter-attacking at its finest. Martin Odegaard played the pass of a quarterback, dropping into the centre circle to pick out the wide runner. He was Eberechi Eze and he drove a half-volley past Neuer.

It has been an extraordinarily eventful week for Eze. A scorer against Lille last week, he was replaced at half-time at Nottingham Forest, then dropped following that ineffectual showing, before being summoned early when Bukayo Saka was injured and he became a scorer against Bayern. “Ebs had a great game,” added Arteta.

Saka hobbled off after nine minutes with a problem in his foot and Arteta acknowledged “it doesn’t look good”. Yet there is a formidable depth to his squad and, for the fourth consecutive game, a substitute scored. Eze was the replacement to have an impact. It said something that Arsenal reacted so well to the loss of Saka. “The character, the personality, but also the quality we showed,” outlined Arteta.

There was a further show of character when they went 2-1 down, when it seemed likelier the fourth goal of the game would come from Bayern; indeed, Konrad Laimer and Diaz had chances to ensure it did.

Instead, Rice struck to underline that Arsenal belong on this stage. Even as their run of Champions League group phase wins, including all eight matches last season, came to an end, they showed they are among the continent’s best. But so did Bayern.