Column: Arsenal should be wary of Bayern's underappreciated backbone
Both sides are filled with attacking quality ahead of tonight's eye-catching Champions League tie, but Bayern's undervalued key players often go under the radar
Arsenal's trip to Bayern Munich this evening could be one of the hardest-fought ties as the Champions League fires up again and things get tasty as we enter the quarter-final stage.
While the Gunners have somewhat stuttered their way through the second half of the season since having to reinvent their attack after long-term injuries to Vivianne Miedema and Beth Mead, they look to have clicked into gear after a resounding performance saw off Chelsea in the Continental Cup final.
Arsenal sit behind Chelsea in the league, just as Bayern sit behind Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, but it does not mean either side will or can take the other lightly.
Both Bayern and Wolfsburg may have one eye on what will be a decisive league encounter between the two on Sunday, squeezed in between these two-legged ties, but Bayern come into the game having not conceded a single league goal in their last five games.
It would be easy for Arsenal to focus on Bayern's attacking qualities, with Lea Schüller and Klara Bühl among those in the frontline which could face the Gunners tonight, as well as the creative influence of Lina Magull and the bullish Georgia Stanway, who will be pretty familiar to her opposition tonight.
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Linda Dallmann has also had a huge goal scoring influence on the side this season, but she has been ruled out for the rest of the season through injury.
But it is some of Bayern's unsung heroes who could cause Arsenal the most issues, particularly given head coach Jonas Eidevall is still searching for his best attacking line-up in the absences of Mead and Miedema.
His fellow Scandinavian, Alexander Straus, has wasted no time in exerting his own influence in Germany since arriving from SK Brann, who he led to the Toppserien title last year.
One of those at the heart of Bayern's success this season is Icelandic defender GlódÃs Perla Viggósdóttir, who while not a household name, has become one of the very best centre-backs anywhere in Europe and at the age of 27 is in the peak years of her career.
Viggósdóttir has been a mainstay of the Bayern side domestically this season, playing every single minute and the only player to have more minutes than goalkeeper Maria Grohs.
The defender has had the most touches and completed the most successful passes in the Bundesliga this season, let alone in the Bayern team, and her ability to play from the back has been important for Bayern.
Alongside Tainara, she has formed a formidable partnership with the Brazilian who will miss the tie through injury, and will likely be partnered by the experienced Saki Kumagai.
But it's not just her ability to play which has made her impressive. Viggósdóttir has won the most aerial duels in the Bayern Munich team and is second for interceptions. She's recorded the most clearances with an incredible 51, 29 more than the next best in right-back Maximiliane Rall and also has the most blocks of any Bayern Munich player.
29-year-old Rall is another who has made herself a home as a late bloomer and has done a very solid job of stepping in for the injured Giulia Gwinn. The attacking full-back is in just her second full season at the club after a successful period at Hoffenheim, and she is second for clearances in the Bayern team behind Viggósdóttir.
Getting forward from right-back, Rall has scored three league goals this season and another in Europe, while she has created more chances in the Bayern team this season than the likes of Magull, Schuller and Sydney Lohmann.
She's also high for successful crosses behind her opposite full-back Carolin Simon, and Arsenal should be wary of the attacking threat coming from both Bayern flanks with both Rall and Simon keen to get forward, though Tuva Hansen will more than likely occupy the left-back role.
That brings us neatly to the last linchpin of the Bayern defensive unit - midfielder Sarah Zadrazil, holding down the fort for Stanway, Magull et al. Zadrazil is another late bloomer when it comes to playing for one of Europe's elite clubs now at the age of 30, joining from Turbine Potsdam in 2020.
For me, the Austrian is one of the most undervalued and underappreciated players in Europe for what she does, as midfielders so often are, and she showed what she can do on a global stage for her national team at Euro 2022 last summer.
Straus himself said this week if Zadrazil has been playing when he did, he would have loved to have played with her.
Zadrazil is both tenacious both holds technical quality too. She has won the most tackles of any Bayern player this season, six clear of Stanway and leads her Icelandic teammate with the most interceptions, 22.
Behind Viggósdóttir, she has played the most minutes of any Bayern outfield player, emphasising the pair's important to the side. While strong in her defensive role, she also has four assists in the league this season and has set up plenty of key chances for her attacking teammates.
Arsenal have plenty of quality of their own when it comes to trying to unlock Bayern's defence, but the Germans have several players who it feels like go under the radar on the European stage, and this is a chance to show it.
Alongside Tuva Hansen who has slotted in at left-back seamlessly since re-joining her former head coach Strauss in Munich, the current Bayern unit, with Zadrazil in front, is one of the toughest, and it will be an intriguing attack vs defence battle at both ends of the pitch at the Allianz tonight.