Arsenal could not manage a better result in their second leg against Bayern Munich. The Germans won with the same 5-1 scoreline. They progress to the Quarterfinals with an impressive score of 10-2 on aggregate.
Manager Arsene Wenger will have little to be happy with after last night’s defeat. Arsenal lost both legs by a clear margin. Furthermore, it is the seventh consecutive exit from last-16 pahse of the Champions League for the English side. Arsenal have done well to constantly qualify to this stage of the competition. However, they have often seemed out of their depth when competing against teams like Barcelona or Bayern.
Theo Walcott gave Arsenal the lead in the 20th minute. The home side maintained their lead and dominated the game until early in the second-half. In the 55th minute defender Koscielny was sent off after a challenge on Robert Lewandowski in the penalty area. The Polish striker calmly converted the spot-kick. This was his 39th Champions League goal making him the competition’s 12th best scorer.
It was from this point onwards that things slipped off the rails for Arsenal. Bayern took full advantage of having an extra player on the pitch. The Germans scored four more times through Robben, Douglas Costa and twice through Vidal. Arturo Vidal was once again decisive for his team as he helped Bayern take control the midfield area.
With an unclear situation for next season, Wenger has received another disappointing blow with this heavy defeat. Arsenal fans protested after the game and chanted for the manager’s resignation. On home front Arsenal is in fifth place, 16 points behind leaders Chelsea. While qualifying for next season’s Champions League is still in the cards, Arsenal fans are unlikely to be happy with the current season. After all, Arsenal was considered one of the favorites at the beginning of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Bayern are chasing a treble of trophies which would match their 2013 record. In the Bundesliga Bayern are seventh points ahead of surprising second place RB Leipzig and look good for their lead.
OH WHAT A NIGHT!!! Quarterfinals, here we come! #UCL #ARSFCB 1-5 (2-10) pic.twitter.com/z3M5dap7xq
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) March 7, 2017
Speaking to the press after the game, Wenger felt him team was unlucky not to get more from this match. He was also critical of the referee’s decision to send-off defender Laurent Koscielny.
“I think there are different aspects in this game. Of course, we are out but I think we produced the game that we wanted and we are very unlucky with some decisions of the referee.”
“It is 1-0 and there is a clear penalty on Walcott. It was offside [for the Bayern penalty] so there was no foul on Lewandowski. That killed the game but my team produced a huge effort . You are down to 10 men you have to score four goals, it becomes impossible in the head of the players.”
Bayern manager Carlo Ancelotii defended Wenger and felt the 5-1 result was harsh considering that Arsenal did not play quite so poorly.
“It was not a crazy game, more difficult. Until the penalty the game was really difficult,” Ancelotti told a post-match news conference. “Arsenal played really well for 50 minutes, putting a lot of pressure in the game.We had difficulty defensively and also with the ball. We did mistakes that we are not used to doing.”
“This result doesn’t really respect what happened on the pitch because Arsenal played a really good game. With 10 men it was really difficult. For us, the penalty took out all the pressure that we had. We started to play with one more man and we scored a lot of goals but, honestly, the result does not respect what happened.”
