"Should feel a bit hard done by", "Why not him" - Arsenal fans surprised by star's omission from XI for UCL clash against Bayern Munich

Arsenal have announced their lineup for the crunch Champions League encounter against Bayern Munich tonight and some fans are taken by surprise to see Piero Hincapie on the bench.

The Ecuadorian started their North London derby on Saturday in Gabriel's absence and looked solid at the back, marking his first Premier League start with an impressive display.

Fans thereby were expecting him to be in the XI against the in-form Bayern too, who are led by one of Arsenal's former derby rivals in Harry Kane. But turns out, head coach Mikel Arteta has left him on the bench for this one.

Cristhian Mosquera takes up Hincapie's spot at the heart of the backline as William Saliba keeps his place in defense. But the former's exclusion has raised eyebrows among the fans, who took to X to display their perplexion:

A fan Ben Wignall felt that Hincapie could be disappointed to be on the bench tonight:

A user by the name 'Chief Builder' wrote:

Another fan called Ardi questioned Arteta's decision to play Mosquera over Hincapie after the Ecuadorian's promising display to Spurs:

The sentiment was echoed by another X user here:

Arsenal fans will hope that Arteta's decision won't backfire against the free-scoring Bayern Munich, who are fresh off a 6-2 shellacking of Freiburg in the Bundesliga and beat defending European champions PSG in Paris in their last European fixture too.

Both these teams are among the only three who have maintained a 100% win record in the competition so far and occupy the top two positions on the table with 12 points each, though Bayern sit ahead of Arsenal by virtue of more goals scored.

Arsenal wary of poor record to Bayern Munich

Arsenal have played Bayern Munich 14 times in Europe, winning only three, the last of which came in October 2015. Since then, the sides have contestedfive more times, with the Gunners losing four of them, including a 1-0 loss in Munich last year.

Now they come up against another frightening Bayern side led by a familiar rival in Harry Kane, who was on target against them at the Emirates in a 2-2 quarter-final draw in the first-leg of the 2023-24 season. But Arsenal too will be confident of their chances here, as they are unbeaten in their last 15 games in all competitions, winning 13.

Edited by Vignesh Raja