Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall gleamed with excitement on Wednesday night after his Gunners' team overturned a 1-0 deficit from the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final to book themselves in the final four for the first time in a decade.

The first 45 minutes against Bayern Munich were breathless. A performance for the ages saw Frida Maanum's thunderbolt quickly followed up by a Stina Blackstenius header from close range to give the home side a 2-1 aggregate lead.

In the second half, Arsenal's pragmatic game management ensured victory was sealed early into the night. The triumph caps off an excellent month as The Gunners started March by breaking their four-year trophyless streak by lifting the League Cup against Chelsea.

Talking after the match, Eidevall ran out of superlatives for his team, who achieved a long-term target via a performance the Norwegian head coach jokingly felicitated as "Top 10" in his north London tenure. 

"It’s been a long-term goal to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League for me personally," Eidevall explained. 

"I was lucky that my first ever game as a Head Coach was a Champions League quarter-final in 2013. We went to Lyon, I was confident we would win and we lost 5-0. From there I am very happy that ten years later we are in the semi-finals.

"For the club, it is a similar story, because it is also a decade ago since Arsenal are in the semi-finals. It is an incredible achievement that we are so proud of.

"I told the players that the second half against Bayern, and the Conti Cup against Chelsea, told me we have the potential when we hit everything to beat every team.

"That doesn’t mean we can do it always but we have that potential, so if we know we have it, we can bring that to one more stage in the competition to see how strong our wings are and how high we can fly together.

"We managed to do that today and that is a proud moment, not just for me but for the club."

  • Tactical variety

Eidevall was keen to acknowledge the tactical variety that his team showed against Bayern.

While in the first half, they pressed with aggression and attacked at speed, the second period saw the early goalscorers drop deeper to subdue Georgia Stanway and their opponent's other threats.

Their ability to complement their attacks with defensive stability proved vital for Eidevall's team, who were aware of the resilient temperament of Bayern and their faculty to create chances out of nothing and capitalise on them. 

He continued: "We knew we would have to defend a little lower against a team like Bayern. It is not our preference but we were forced to do it because we weren’t quite getting our positioning right in the second half so we dropped a little bit deeper.

"But the big difference between this game and last week, when we get into those moments, we don’t lose our discipline. In the first game, we opened up central areas and Bayern is skilful there.

"This time they could only switch the ball but on the outside of our organisation. It was rare they came inside our organisation and played. When you look at the whole game, they have very few goal-scoring opportunities that Bayern create.

"They have one where they switch play and come inside our organisation at the beginning of the second half is probably the best chance they have. But over 90 minutes against a great attacking team like Bayern, that is a very impressive defensive display."

A big difference to Arsenal's outlay in the second leg was the way every player got involved with each component of the tactic. From attack to defence, the whole team had a bigger role to play in the victory.

"What you could see in the first game was that we were losing our shape and we left too big a space for Frida and Stina to pressure," he added. 

"But when we engaged our central midfield and wide forwards better and kept our shape better in pressing we limit the distances they had to cover.

"The players really got that right many times tonight. The first goal is one example of that- it is a great strike from Frida, so it is not just about pressing but without us pressing we don’t get the ball there in the first place."

  • Arsenal's green link between men and women teams

What makes Arsenal's recent form even more notable is it has been done without star forwards Vivianne Miedema and Beth Mead, who they lost to anterior cruciate ligament injuries before Christmas.

Initially struggling to fill that void, it seems they have found the answer in recent weeks. Blackstenius has stepped up massively, while she is helped by those around her such as January signing Victoria Pelova, Caitlin Foord, and the new long-distance specialist Frida Maanum.

However, while a lot of the talk surrounded the attack, Eidevall also gave a special mention to Arsenal as a club for the progress he has made in the last 18 months.

If the winning culture at the club for both the men and women is anything to go by, The Gunners should not fear any opponent at the semi-final stage. 

"That is fundamental for creating these moments with our supporters but to give supporters the chance to experience the team live," said Eidevall of the green link between the men and women teams. 

"It’s fundamental that we get to play here so often but also that the supporters get to experience it with us, it helps us to do this tonight. We want to continue to push and I get the sense that history is being created quickly in front of our eyes when I see how the attendance and the culture is here at the Emirates.

"Five years ago if someone had said that Arsenal’s long-term plan is to move to Emirates Stadium people would ask how that can happen, now I think people understand that that might be realistic for the future."