Carry on this way for much longer and they will have to begin mentioning a new annual event in pocket diaries. February festival days. Shrove Tuesday. Valentine’s Day. Arsenal out of the Champions League day.
Well, as good as. Since 2010-11, Arsenal have exited this competition every year at the first knockout stage and while this tie is not technically over, it is going to take a Herculean, Tom Brady-style comeback for Arsene Wenger’s men to progress now.
Bayern Munich’s fifth goal was the killer, meaning Arsenal need to win the return leg 4-0.
If the Germans get so much as one on the break, Arsenal will need six to progress in normal time. And Munich always look capable of doing that. Certainly if Arsenal are without Laurent Koscielny, as now seems likely.
He limped off after 49 minutes with what seemed like a hamstring injury, the score tied 1-1. Within 14 minutes it was 4-1 to Bayern, another collapse of a type Arsenal fans know only too well.
Robert Lewandowski scented blood like a shark, Bayern’s forwards descended on Arsenal like a school of peckish piranhas. Claret everywhere.
It wasn’t substitute Gabriel’s fault. He just happened to be present when the weakness in this side came to the fore again. Shkodran Mustafi was equally culpable — so, too, what passes for Arsenal’s midfield protection.
When the pressure is on against the elite of Europe, Arsenal collapse. It can hardly have come as a surprise, either, having happened for seven straight seasons now.
Might it be the last time under Wenger, though? Maybe, after this.
At the end of this season, Wenger and his employers have a decision to make. They can’t be happy for this to continue indefinitely. It wasn’t even a new scoreline. Bayern Munich beat them 5-1 here in the Champions League group stage in November 2015.
Yet every year is going to be different; every humiliation will be a lesson learned. Except they don’t learn. Arsenal went in at half-time drawing 1-1 and with a couple of chances to take the lead after that. Within 20 minutes they were out of the tie.
They have so much experience, so much quality — they shouldn’t just be swept aside like this. Something is wrong. Something has to give.
Munich’s first goal came after 11 minutes and what a thing of beauty it was after a period of intense pressure that ended with Arjen Robben cutting in from the right wing.
You can probably fill in the rest from there, we have all seen it so many times — although apparently Francis Coquelin hadn’t. He sat off and sat off, until Robben had sight of goal and that sweet left foot did the rest. The ball flew into the top corner past David Ospina. He was a controversial selection ahead of Petr Cech. To be fair, Ospina probably couldn’t even have reached this one standing on Cech’s shoulders.
It was another of those lessons learned. Even two banks of four aren’t much of a defensive unit without pressure on the ball.
Even so, scored against the balance of play, Arsenal’s equaliser was the embodiment of perseverance and the old adage that if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again — Alexis Sanchez’s penalty going in at the third
It was a penalty, but a lucky one. Lewandowski, attempting to clear, caught Koscielny’s leg coming in on his blindside.
It was a simple missed kick. Still, there is a rule against it and Serbian referee Milorad Mazic was right to point to the spot.
From there, a sprinkling of magic dust saw Arsenal through. Sanchez put his shot down the middle, a fraction to the left, where it was saved by Manuel Neuer.
Out it came, straight to Sanchez, who swung and missed at the rebound. He then took the ball away from goal with his chest and his finish from there was perfect — a shot on the spin into the far corner. Just don’t ask him
Who knows how it would have panned out had Koscielny not pulled a hamstring and limped off soon after the restart.
Would Arsenal have held on? They haven’t in the past and, anyway, no team with elite ambitions should be vulnerable to one stroke of bad luck. Arsenal pretty much fell apart.
Wenger’s big call was Ospina and while the goalkeeper was not the reason his team went down by five, he hardly did him too many favours with the second that swung the game in Munich’s direction. It was a lovely cross from Philipp Lahm and Lewandowski successfully targeted the corner of goal with his header. Ospina, however, did look rather flat-footed and appeared to slip at a vital moment, too.
Now Munich were in charge and the third of the night was a quite beautiful move.
Xabi Alonso found Lewandowski and his backheel sent the ball into the path of Thiago Alcantara, whose shot defeated Ospina.
Same again for the fourth, another shot from Thiago, this time through a mess of players, the ball clipping Granit Xhaka and sending Ospina the wrong way.
It could have been six or seven from there. Munich hit the bar after a scramble, Ospina tipped one from Robben around a post, a Douglas Costa shot deflected just wide. Yet Arsenal were still in touch, just. Events in the 88th minute, however, dampened the enthusiasm of even the most optimistic travellers.
It was carnage. Ponderous defenders caught in possession, a frantic scramble, Thiago to Thomas Muller, just on as a substitute. He couldn’t have been afforded a more hospitable welcome.
For those who enjoy clutching at straws, there was the moan that one of Munich’s goals came from a home goal-kick that started off as an Arsenal corner before the referee changed his mind. But, really, are we going to do this? For the realists, there was Munich’s darkly mocking tweet. ‘Same again next year?’ it read. ‘#FCBARS 5-1.’
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