History and form favours Bayern for Arsenal visit

FC Bayern München have progressed from the UEFA Champions League round of 16 in three of the last four seasons and look set to extend that sequence when they play host to Arsenal FC.

• The visitors' challenge has ended at this stage in the last two seasons with the damage inflicted in the away leg when they conceded four and three goals respectively at AC Milan and FC Barcelona. 

• This time round Arsenal look like being undone by a 3-1 home reverse, their second loss in four home games in this season's competition. Only twice have a team come back from losing at home in the first leg of a UEFA Champions League tie and both AFC Ajax and FC Internazionale Milano went down only 1-0 on their own soil. While the former were 3-0 winners at Panathinaikos FC in the 1995/96 semi-final second leg, Bayern will need no reminding of Inter's 3-2 win in Munich in the 2010/11 round of 16 second leg.

Previous meetings
• The teams met at this stage in the 2004/05 competition when Bayern again established a 3-1 first-leg lead, this time at home, Claudio Pizarro scoring the first two goals. It was enough to take them through to the quarter-finals, with Arsenal 1-0 winners in the return.

• The lineups at the Olympiastadion on 22 February 2005 were:
Bayern: Kahn, Sagnol, Lúcio, Kovač, Lizarazu, Demichelis, Salihamidžić (Hargreaves 75), Frings, Zé Roberto (Scholl 57), Pizarro (Guerrero 68), Makaay.
Arsenal: Lehmann, Lauren, Touré, Cygan, Clichy (Cole 83), Pirès, Vieira, Edu (Flamini 36), Reyes, Ljungberg (Van Persie 76), Henry.

• Four years previously the teams had met in the second group stage when Bayern again had the upper hand, winning their home game 1-0 with the London fixture ending 2-2.

Match background
• Arsenal are Bayern's third English opponents in the last two campaigns. They met Manchester City FC in last season's group stage, winning 2-0 in Munich before losing by the same score away with qualification already assured, and then took on Chelsea FC in the final at their own Fußball Arena München.

• The penalty shoot-out defeat meant they have come off second best in three European Cup finals against English sides, losing the 1982 and 1999 finals against Aston Villa FC and Manchester United FC respectively. Bayern did beat Leeds United AFC in the 1975 final to claim one of their four European Cup successes.

• Bayern's overall record against English teams is W14 D13 L10 and at home (not including last year's final) it is W10 D5 L1.

• Their only defeat on home soil against English visitors came in the 1993/94 UEFA Cup second round when Norwich City FC won 2-1. Excluding last season's final their last four home UEFA Champions League games against teams from England have all ended in victory.

• Bayern finished top of Group F by virtue of a better head-to-head record with Valencia CF and were winners in all three home games, scoring 12 goals in the process. Jupp Heynckes' team overcame Valencia 2-1, LOSC Lille 6-1 and FC BATE Borisov 4-1.

• That 2010/11 Inter defeat is the only time in 22 UEFA competition ties that Bayern have lost overall having won the first leg away. They have won 3-1 away in the first game only once before, against Rangers FC in the 1989/90 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round; the second leg finished scoreless.

• Bayern's shoot-out record in UEFA club competition is:
3-4 v Chelsea FC, 2011/12 UEFA Champions League final
3-1 v Real Madrid CF, 2011/12 UEFA Champions League semi-final
5-4 v Valencia CF, 2000/01 UEFA Champions League final
9-8 v PAOK FC, 1983/84 UEFA Cup second round
4-3 v Åtvidabergs FF, 1973/74 European Cup first round

• Arsenal, in the round of 16 for the 13th successive season and seeking a place in the quarter-finals for the first time since 2010, had their nine-year unbeaten home record against non-English opposition ended by another German club, FC Schalke 04, in the group stage. The Gunners drew 2-2 in Gelsenkirchen having led 2-0.

• The Gunners began the campaign with a 2-1 away win against Montpellier Hérault SC but have won only four of their last 16 UEFA Champions League away games, losing nine. They have won only one of their last 22 UEFA Champions League away matches, including qualifying, by a margin that would keep them in the competition, 3-1 at FK Partizan in the 2010/11 group stage.

• Furthermore, Arsenal have never overturned a home first-leg defeat in European competition. They have lost only one such match, against VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup first round, and went down by the same scoreline away from home.

• Arsenal are unbeaten on their last three visits to Germany, drawing twice and winning 2-1 at Hamburger SV in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• The Gunners' record against German sides is: W12 D5 L8; away it is W3 D4 L5.

• Arsenal's shoot-out record in UEFA competition is:
7-6 v AS Roma, 2008/09 UEFA Champions League round of 16
1-4 v Galatasaray AŞ, 1999/2000 UEFA Cup final
3-2 v UC Sampdoria, 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final
4-5 v Valencia CF, 1979/80 European Cup Winners' Cup final 

Team ties
• Lukas Podolski played for Bayern between 2006 and 2009, scoring 15 goals in 71 league appearances. Either side of that spell he spent a total of six years with 1. FC Köln and in ten games against Bayern was only once on the winning side.

• Per Mertesacker scored SV Werder Bremen's goal in a 3-1 home defeat by Bayern on 29 January 2011. After Arjen Robben had equalised, a Mertesacker own goal then put Bayern 2-1 ahead before Miroslav Klose completed the scoring. During his five years with Bremen, Mertesacker faced Bayern 16 times and was only on the winning side twice.

• Mertesacker and Pizarro were team-mates at Bremen between 2008 and 2011.

• Tomáš Rosický scored 20 goals in 149 Bundesliga appearances for Borussia Dortmund from 2001 to 2006, winning the league title in 2001/02.

• Robben scored in Chelsea FC's 2-0 away win at Arsenal on 18 December 2005. In his three years at Stamford Bridge he faced the Gunners four times and was never on the losing side.

• Franck Ribéry plays for France alongside Olivier Giroud, Sébastien Squillaci, Bacary Sagna, Abou Diaby and Laurent Koscielny.

• Thomas Müller scored as Germany came from behind to beat France 2-1 in Paris on 6 February, their first victory over Les Bleus since 1987 and their first in France in 78 years. Lahm and Gomez also started for the visitors alongside Podolski, with Toni Kroos coming on in the second half. Ribéry, Sagna, Koscielny and Giroud, a replacement, all featured for France.

• Giroud scored for France, who also included Ribéry, in a 2-1 win against Germany in a Bremen friendly on 29 February 2012. Jérôme Boateng and Kroos started for Germany, Mario Gomez and Müller came on in the second half and Manuel Neuer was on the bench.

• Aaron Ramsey's Wales lost 2-0 in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Germany who included Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Gomez. Ramsey's club colleagues Mertesacker and Podolski were also involved in the Cardiff fixture on 1 April 2009.