For some visitors to London, it’s a plastic model of Big Ben, a teddy bear dressed as a Buckingham Palace guard or a Union Jack t-shirt that’s flung in the suitcase on departure. But when Serge Gnabry leaves England’s capital, he takes only goals, wins and defenders’ dignity.
After scoring four in the group stage humiliation of Tottenham, Gnabry twice sliced through Chelsea to help Bayern to a richly-deserved 3-0 away win. The Bavarians have one foot in the quarterfinals and a measure of revenge for a certain night in Munich eight years ago.
That same year, Gnabry left Germany for London. Though Arsenal fans must now rue the fact he never quite made it here, they won’t hold too much against him given how he’s slayed two of their city rivals this season.
“I have a lot of friends here in London, perhaps they gave me a bit of power,” he said after the game, although he refused to reveal whether he’d be showing his teammates any of his favorite London haunts.
Before Wednesday’s match, Chelsea set off fireworks from the stadium roof as commentary from their win over Bayern in the 2012 final played over the PA. As the teams came out, the home fans unfurled a huge banner mocking Bayern’s “Our city, our stadium, our trophy” display from that night, and belted out a chant about the time they “won it at yours.”
They could talk the talk, but it was Bayern who walked the walk. By the time Gnabry collected a return pass from Robert Lewandowski and guided his second in three minutes past Willy Caballero early in the second half, it was the traveling fans who were making all the noise, adopting “Football’s Coming Home” and another song in English that was far from complimentary about their hosts.
While Chelsea’s limitations were laid bare, this was an exceptional away performance by the Bundesliga champions, with Gnabry the cutting edge of a machine that Hansi Flick was smart enough to re-oil rather than attempt to rebuild.
As if stung by the reminders of that traumatic night all those years ago, Thomas Müller, one of three Bayern survivors from that game, ran the show before the interval in London’s west end. He set the Bayern band a furious early pace, dealing largely in first time passes – flicks, cushions, layoffs and through balls – the last of which, perfectly weighted, sent Kingsley Coman haring through in the 11th minute. The Frenchman screwed his shot wide. Next it was Lewandowski who was teed up, only to be denied by Caballero. Then Müller took center stage, slipping a ball out wide before flicking an innovative backwards header onto the bar.