If one were to be kind on Arsenal, they did at least have 45 minutes when Arsène Wenger could argue that his team had the better of one of Europe’s real superpowers. That, however, would be exceedingly kind – a sympathy vote, one could call it – bearing in mind the full story of their latest ordeal. Once again they came up dreadfully short and this time the question has to be asked about whether it will be Wenger’s last involvement with this club in the Champions League.
If so, he should be accustomed to the disappointment by now, given this is the seventh successive season his team have gone out at the first knockout stage. Bayern have accounted for three of those exits and Arsenal, to put it bluntly, must be sick of the sight of them. Ten-two on aggregate is not just a defeat; it is an embarrassment. It was Arsenal’s heaviest defeat at the Emirates since it opened for business in 2006 and the worst result, over two legs, for any English club at this level – and perhaps the most demoralising part for Arsenal’s supporters is that it did not even seem like a surprise.
Bayern could have added more and all the time there was the suspicion that Carlo Ancelotti’s team were not even operating at full pelt. For the first 45 minutes they had seemed surprised, bemused even, that Arsenal wanted to prolong the argument. It was not until the second half that the five-time winners decided it was time to put Arsenal in their place and in those moments the mind went back to what Wenger said about his team having “mentally collapsed” in the first leg. The sense of deja vu was unavoidable.
In fairness to Arsenal the difference this time is that they had to play 35 minutes with 10 men but it was still startling to see their disintegration once Laurent Koscielny had been shown a red card for giving away the penalty that led to Bayern’s equaliser. Robert Lewandowski put it away and, by the end, Theo Walcott’s first-half goal seemed a distant memory. Arjen Robben was next to score, then the substitute Douglas Costa and then, twice, Arturo Vidal – five goals in the space of half an hour.
For Wenger the ramifications had started beforehand in the form of a pre-match protest when the repertoire of songs included one accusing Arsenal’s manager – a man, lest it be forgotten, who has won 3.6% of every league title and FA Cup in the history of English football – of “killing the club”. Around 200 fans were involved, marching to the stadium with their banners declaring “au revoir”, and the danger for Wenger is that the numbers could grow.
Wenger also used some exaggerated language of his own, describing himself as “absolutely revolted” by the standard of officiating, and it was certainly unusual, to say the least, to see a referee upgrading his cards. Koscielny was initially shown a yellow card before the Greek official, Tasos Sidiropoulos, changed his mind on the say-so of his assistant close to the goal. Lewandowski had been marginally offside when Koscielny leaned into the striker with enough force to bring him down. Lewandowski, clear on goal, was denied the chance to shoot but it sounded slightly desperate on Wenger’s part to make this the entire focus of his post-match remarks.
To give him his due, Wenger did have a point when he complained about the way Xabi Alonso was given the benefit of the doubt, with Arsenal leading 1-0, after clipping Walcott’s leg inside the penalty area.
Walcott had an outstanding first half and had been menacing Bayern’s defence even before he eluded three opponents on the run that culminated in him beating Manuel Neuer with a powerful, rising shot. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also had an impressive 45 minutes and Wenger was probably justified to think that a penalty for Arsenal at that stage, with the prospect of a second goal, might have dramatically changed the complexion of the night.
All the same it still felt like a cop-out, on the back of a 10-2 aggregate defeat, to turn the blame elsewhere and Arsenal, at 1-1, did not have to capitulate to this effect. All that false hope from the first half was replaced by the cold reality of modern football life during that blitz of Bayern goals. Robben put the Bundesliga champions in front after a poor kick from David Ospina and a moment of carelessness from Alexis Sánchez, who was substituted on his return to the team and summed up their ignominy when he was pictured apparently laughing to himself on the bench. Costa ran from the halfway line before cutting inside and curling in a fine left-foot shot to make it 3-1. Vidal’s first goal was chipped over Ospina and the second was teed up by Costa after the two players had run clear.
Each goal prompted a walk-out of supporters, meaning the ground was sparsely filled by the time the home team were put out of their misery, and the score might have been even more harrowing from an Arsenal perspective. Time and again Bayern broke forward, outnumbering their opponents. Lewandowski hit the post and could not convert at least two other chances. Arsenal finished the match like a side in need of smelling salts.
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