EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsMUNICH -- Nobody can doubt the character is there with Arsenal. Declan Rice's late equalizer in Wednesday's 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich offers hope the quality might be too.The Allianz Arena has habitually been a place where the Gunners' European dreams go to die. They were beaten at the quarterfinal stage on their last visit here in April 2024.Arsenal fans of a certain generation still have nightmares about the four round-of-16 exits in five seasons up to 2017, the last of which was a 10-2 aggregate annihilation.But this Arsenal side is different. Bayern are unbeaten now in 40 group-stage UEFA Champions League home matches, but they were denied victory in an absorbing encounter high on entertainment and risk, everything Sunday's Premier League game at Nottingham Forest was not.After Eberechi Eze opened the scoring with a superb 25th-minute opener, Harry Kane's stunning pass released Alphonso Davies to equalize. Kane's 61st-minute penalty -- awarded after Jurrin Timber handled the England captain's shot from Konrad Laimer's cutback -- set Bayern on course for victory, but Arsenal responded.Rice played an excellent one-two with substitute Viktor Gykeres before drilling a low shot past Manuel Neuer to secure a point."The character, the personality, but also the quality that we showed," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said in highlighting the best aspects of their performance."To understand what the game was requiring, because it changed. There were moments and they changed, especially the way they were pressing in two different ways. We were very aware of that. And I think the way the team had to understand the game, it was really, really good."You could see that right from the beginning, the mindset, the purpose and the intention that the team has, to be very dominant, to come here and cause problems to Bayern, to press them and to attack them, and that's certainly what we've done."This was a fascinating tactical contest. Arsenal sought to press high, Ezri Konsa at one point running the entire length of the field to follow Kane as he dropped ever deeper in an effort to act as quarterback.At one point, Kane was so far back he even took a goal kick -- and did so to great effect, as it started a move that finished with Serge Gnabry shooting from 14 yards out, forcing David Raya into a fine save.Davies was a constant menace whenever Bayern were able to beat Arsenal's press -- Arteta admitted afterward he expected Luiz Diaz to start on the left wing instead -- but for the first 35 minutes or so, this was as fine an away performance as you could wish to see.Using Raya's fine distribution, Arsenal often went long to get themselves up the pitch and then contain Bayern in their own half as they probed for openings.Davies' equalizer rocked them back. Arteta rather poetically described Kane's assist as putting the ball "into a space that doesn't exist." It sparked Bayern into life, and for the next half hour, they were the better team before Arsenal rallied late on, culminating in Rice firing home.Rice has done this sort of thing before on the big stage. His two magical free kicks against Real Madrid in April last year hold a permanent place in the club's folklore. While this goal doesn't have the same importance thanks to UEFA's bloated group-stage format, it helps counter the argument that a lack of quality in the final third could cost Arsenal a chance at the biggest prize of all.For the middle part of this match, it looked like it might. This was a tight, high-intensity game that could have gone either way and it appeared as though Bayern's stars would settle it.Both sides were missing wingers -- Bayern's Michael Olise through suspension and Arsenal's Christos Tzolis through injury -- and both lost another as the game wore on. Saka lasted just 10 minutes with a quad injury, while Diaz came off the bench on 68 minutes but limped off before the end.Kane was the difference for the Bavarians. His intelligent passing frequently defeated Arsenal defensive game plan, while his penalty was typically emphatic. He has now scored in 10 consecutive Champions League games -- only Cristiano Ronaldo (11) has had a longer streak.As good as Kai Havertz can be and Gykeres might go on to be, neither are obviously in Kane's class. Thoughts turned back to the summer when Arsenal spent months chasing an elite addition to their forward line, with Vincius Jnior, Morgan Rogers and Julin lvarez all targeted without success.The strategy in seeking to go one better than last season's agonizing Champions League final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain was to try and add some stardust.With Tzolis and Saka out -- Arteta admitted Saka's quad injury "doesn't look good," but it will be assessed -- what an opportunity this could now be for Eze and Noni Madueke, whose deflected goal saw Arsenal edge past Forest.Eze is on quite the roller coaster. Last week, he scored a fine goal off the bench as Arsenal beat Lille. But on Sunday, he cut a melancholic figure in the dugout after being substituted at halftime at Forest. Thrust into action early on here, he made an important contribution.Both Eze and Madueke face accusations of inconsistency. The suspicion remains that Eze would be better suited to a central role than wide left, but each might now get the chance to kick-start their Arsenal careers. Perhaps even Max Dowman, aged just 16, will edge closer to first-team involvement again.Gykeres' fine assist for Rice is a riposte to his critics, but something he too must build on when the season intensifies and the prizes come into view.Arsenal can look to those weeks and months with reason to hope after this. They displayed character, nous and skill in a battling display at the home of a European powerhouse. It is a combination that looks set to take them a long way once again.Whether it is enough to go one better remains to be seen, but there are grounds for optimism.
