Arsenal beat Dortmund, an unlikely hat-trick hero and more Gunners games against the Germans

The Gunners take on Bundesliga champs Borussia Dortmund in the 2011/12 Champions League with all to play for. The north London club have a mixed record against German opposition in European competition, but at time of writing have only lost one game on home soil. Here, talkSPORT takes a look at the battles between Arsenal and the Bundesliga…

BORUSSIA DORTMUND V ARSENAL
Arsenal have met Dortmund before in the Champions League, during the 2002/03 group stages. The first game at Highbury was a hard-earned 2-0 win for Arsenal, with goals from Dennis Bergkamp and dynamic Swede Freddie Ljungberg. When Arsenal traveled to Dortmund a month later they needed at least a draw to guarantee qualification, but things didn't go as planned and an own goal by Gilberto cancelled out Thierry Henry's opener. David Seaman then took down giant striker Jan Koller for a penalty and the spot-kick was converted by future Arsenal player Tomas Rosicky. The Gunners were fortunate that PSV beat Auxerre in the other group match, which meant they qualified for the next round.

BAYERN V ARSENAL
Bayern's first encounter with Arsenal came in the 2000/01 Champions League second group stage, where a 2-2 draw at Highbury and a 1-0 win in the Olympic Stadium was enough to help the Bundesliga side top the group, five points clear of second-placed Arsenal. Bayern went on to win the Champions League that season and they knocked out Arsenal again, four years later, when they met the Gunners in the first knockout stage of the tournament. A Thierry Henry winner in the second leg at Highbury wasn't enough to overturn a 3-1 first leg deficit, but Bayern would suffer London punishment in the next round, losing to Chelsea in the quarter-finals.

SCHALKE V ARSENAL
Arsenal were joined by Schalke in the the first group stage of the 2001/02 Champions League campaign and the Germans, who had finished third in the Bundesliga the year before, proved difficult oppostiion for a Gunners side that went on to win the Premier League. The pair met first in London, with Wenger's men only just coming out on top 3-2 thanks to a goal from Freddie Ljunberg and a brace by Thierry Henry. Arsenal withstood waves of attacks as stand-in defenders Martin Keown and Giles Grimandi struggled against Schalke's lively forward Emile Mpenza. The north London side had already qualified when the two sides met again, which led to Wenger sending out a relatively weak team. Oleg Luzhny's red card compromised the situation further and Arsenal went down 3-1 at the Aufschalke Arena, before going on to meet another German side in the second group stage…

BAYER LEVERKUSEN V ARSENAL
After seeing off Schalke, Arsenal met German opposition again, this time in the shape of Bayer Leverkusen in the second group stage. The first match was held at the BayArena and Leverkusen prevented the Gunners from winning away in Europe for the first time in 12 months. The Leverkusen side, including a young Dimitar Berbatov, scraped a 1-1 draw with a last minute goal against 10-man Arsenal after Ray Parlour had received two yellow cards. Arsenal dominated the return at Highbury, with Robert Pires and Henry scoring within the first seven minutes. Further goals from Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp meant a stunning late strike from Zoltan Sebescen was nothing more than a consolation… on the night, because it was Arsenal who exited the group in third place, while Leverkusen went through. The German side went on to slay two further English sides, knocking Liverpool out in the quarter-finals and Manchester Untied in the semis, before losing to Real Madrid in the final.

WERDER BREMEN V ARSENAL
Arsenal had been knocked out the group stages of the Champions League in 1999/2000 and were thirsty for blood having dropped into the UEFA Cup. After breezing through the preceding two rounds, the Gunners came up against Werder Bremen in the quarter-finals. The first leg was at Highbury and goals from Ljungberg and Henry secured an easy 2-0 win. The second-leg at the Weserstadion in Bremen finished 4-2 to Arsenal with a brilliant hat-trick from the Romford Pele, talkSPORT presenter Ray Parlour. Arsenal went on to reach the final where they lost on penalties to Galatasaray.

HAMBURG V ARSENAL
Arsenal met a lowly Hamburg side in the group stages of the 2006/07 Champions League and Arsene Wenger's side duly recorded a win in Germany. Hamburg's keeper Sascha Kirschstein was sent off early on for bringing down Robin Van Persie and Gilberto Silva converted the penalty, before a stunning strike from Tomas Rosicky put the Gunners two up, before a late consolation goal from Piotr Trochowski. Meeting again a month later, Hamburg had star player Rafael Van Der Vaart back in the team and he made an immediate impact, scoring a sublime 25-yard strike within four minutes at the Emirates Stadium. Robin van Persie got the Gunners back in the game shortly after half-time, before late goals from Julio Baptista and Emmanuel Eboue gave Arsenal the three points and left them only needing a point in their next game to qualify.

COLOGNE V ARSENAL
Before 1996, Arsenal had only played German opposition in Europe once before and that was way back in the 1970/71 Inter Cities Fairs Cup, which was essentially the UEFA Cup in a previous format. This was the final season of this competition and the Gunners were the holders, having won the trophy in 1970 under the management of Bertie Mee. In the last eight they met Cologne, winning the first leg at Highbury, thanks to goals from Frank McLintock and Peter Storey in a 2-1 win. The away goal from Karl Heinz Thielen proved decisive, as the second-leg finished 1-0 to the German side, putting Cologne through on the away goals rule. They were beaten by Juventus in the semi-finals, while Arsenal went on to win their first League and Cup double.

BORUSSIA MONCHENGLADBACH V ARSENAL
The Gunners lost the first leg of this UEFA Cup first round match 2-3 at Highbury, still the only time Arsenal have been beaten by a German team on home soil. Monchengladbach went two goals up, before Paul Merson pulled one back. Monchengladbach restored their two-goal advantage, but a last minute strike from Ian Wright offered Arsenal fans some hope for the second leg.  The game in Germany ended with the same scoreline, despite Arsenal threatening a dramatic comeback after going a goal down on 23 mintues. Merson and Wright scored again to put the Gunners level on aggregate, if not away goals, but two late strikes put the Gunners out in the first round of European competition for only the second time in their history.