Germany’s aristocrats look to be unstoppable

Some teams have a tendency to make you reach for the catechism of cliché, and perhaps inevitably the word that comes to mind about Bayern Munich is blitzkrieg.

In their 5-1 win against Schalke 10 days ago, which set a new Bundesliga record of 15 consecutive victories, they were four goals up after half an hour. They even managed to score Schalke’s goal for them, Rafinha putting the ball into his own net to the fury of Manuel Neuer, who has been looking to break the Bundesliga record for consecutive clean sheets (currently nine).

Schalke admittedly were suffering from shell-shock after their 6-1 defeat by Real Madrid four days earlier, but on Saturday Bayern again demonstrated their ability to blow teams away with their own 6-1 win at Wolfsburg.

On this occasion they even allowed their opponents a goal start before scoring four in 14 minutes in a devastating second-half.

It was the sort of win that emphasises the chasm that has opened between Bayern and the rest this season — they are 20 points ahead with a goal difference of 61 — and Wolfsburg were no pushover. For 60 minutes, they matched the champions and even looked as if they might threaten an unbeaten record that now stretches back 17 months.

“We weren’t in control of this game in the way we have been in recent weeks,” Pep Guardiola admitted afterwards.

“Wolfsburg did some great pressing and were very well organised.”

But then he brought on Thiago in midfield and Mario Mandzukic up front and the two of them ran riot. Thiago bisected the Wolfsburg defence with his first touch of the ball, setting up Thomas Müller to make it 2-1, then Mandzukic added a couple more.

Guardiola’s Barcelona side were relentless passers and pressers, usually to huge effect, but they became a little one-dimensional, perhaps through an excessive reliance on Lionel Messi. Against determined and disciplined opposition, they sometimes seemed unable to vary their game.

Bayern also pass and press, but they have more attacking options and can play the ball long and in the air, as well as short and on the ground.

Perhaps the biggest worry for Arsenal tonight, however, is that the blitz can come at the start of the game, as against Schalke, or in the final third, as against Wolfsburg — and Guardiola has become more adept at changing the tempo of a game, as he also showed against Borussia Dortmund at the end of November.

Dortmund’s challenge this season has been drastically restricted by their injury crisis, but like Wolfsburg, they competed effectively for an hour until Bayern brought on two substitutes and changed gear. In this case it was the first sub, Mario Götze, who scored the crucial goal and the second — Thiago again — who sparked the sudden change of pace. Once Dortmund were breached, they could no longer resist the onslaught and Bayern grabbed a couple more in the final five minutes.

They are a daunting team, especially starting with a two-goal advantage, and Arsenal can’t even hope for complacency given their tremendous 2-0 win in Munich 12 months ago, when they came so close to causing the upset of the tournament.

That ought to give them some hope, because currently Bayern’s domestic opponents are mostly beaten before they start, and both in the Super Cup at the start of the season and again in the group stage, Premier League opposition have caused them problems. Attack can be the best form of defence, and in this match, it may be the only one. The difficulty Arsenal have will be sustaining that attacking intent throughout the game because Bayern’s easy Bundesliga campaign has allowed Guardiola to rotate and keep some of his best players fresh.

Against Schalke, for example, he swapped Toni Kroos for Müller, both of whom have been ‘first-choice’ this season. But Thiago, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javier Martinez have almost been part-timers — and that’s a midfield trio to grace any side in the competition.

Since the European Cup turned into the Champions League, only two sides have ever overturned a first-leg home defeat. Arsenal have gone close to the superhuman in Europe on previous occasions but it is asking a lot to do it against Germany’s invincibles.