Arsenal’s emphatic 3-0 victory over AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League proved to be futile, as the Italian giants sent the Gunners crashing out 4-3 on aggregate.
Arsene Wenger’s team kicked off the game at the Emirates Stadium knowing that they would have to be the first team in the history of the competition to qualify after overturning a 4-0 first-leg deficit.
The impossible proved to be exactly that, as first-half goals from Laurent Koscielny, Tomas Rosicky and Robin van Persie were not enough to take the tie into extra-time.
Mr Wenger will have been delighted with his players’ first-half efforts, as Arsenal harried Milan in the early stages. They earned a corner in the seventh minute, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s ball found the unaccompanied Koscielny powered his header into the ground and beyond Christian Abbiati.
The Arsenal faithful began to taste blood mid-way through the first period, when Brazilian centre-half Thiago Silva stroked what should have been a routine clearance into the path of Rosicky, who slid the ball into the bottom-right corner.
The unreachable dream looked even more feasible just before half-time. Oxlade-Chamberlain powered towards full-back Djamel Mesbah on the edge of the area. Antonio Nocerino and Mesbah clumsily sandwiched the ever-more impressive 18-year-old after he had nipped between them, giving referee Damir Skomina no choice but to point to the spot. Van Persie notched up his 31st goal of the season, smashing the spot-kick into the top-right corner of the goal.
Arsenal were cruising, but there was still the threat of Milan snatching an away goal which would have put the tie beyond Arsenal’s reach. On the stroke of half time, Robinho slipped an inch-perfect pass through to Stephan El Shaarawy who somehow steered his shot yards wide of Wojciech Szczesny’s post.
Arsenal performed well, but Milan were a shell of the team that thumped Mr Wenger’s team in Italy in February.
The Italians improved slightly in the second half, and Arsenal lacked the penetration they displayed earlier on. Both sides sought a vital goal in the second period – Milan to kill the game off, and Arsenal to keep it alive.
Yet neither took the gilt edged chances presented to them. Van Persie could not make it 4-0 after Gervinho’s shot was parried by Abbiati. Instead he opted to chip the goalkeeper, but Abbiati miraculously managed to pluck the ball out of the air.
Late in the second period, Nocerino should have put the tie beyond any doubt when former-Liverpool man Alberto Aquilani’s low cross into the box found its way to him at the far post. But Nocerino limply prodded the ball with his right foot from four yards out, straight into the arms of Szczesny.
Milan’s wasteful finishing bore little significance 15 minutes later when proceedings were brought to a halt. Although Mr Wenger will be pleased his side made some amends for their hammering in Italy at the hands of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho, it is Massimiliano Allegri’s Milan who progressed to the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League.
Player ratings
Wojciech Szczesny 6
Bacary Sagna 7 (Yellow card)
Thomas Vermaelen 7
Laurent Koscielny 7
Kieran Gibbs 6 (Yellow card)
Alex Song 6 (Yellow card)
Tomas Rosicky 8
Gervinho 5
Theo Walcott 7
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 8
Robin van Persie 7
Subs
Lukasz Fabianski
Johan Djourou
Ignasi Miquel
Carl Jenkinson
Oguzhan Ozyakup
Marouane Chamakh 5 (on for Oxlade-Chamberlain)
Chu-Young Park 5 (on for Walcott)
