Bayern 0
Arsenal 2
In the end, it was as expected. Nobody gave Arsenal a chance to turn the tie around, and they didn’t.
But last night – unlike their meek surrender to the Germans two weeks ago – the Gunners made a real fight of it.
A deserved 2-0 victory meant there was no shame in going out on away goals to a team touted as tournament favourites, handing Bayern their first defeat since October.
Like the Milan tie last year, if redemption proved a step too far, pride was restored.
Close, but no cigar
Arsenal were without Wilshere through injury and had dropped Szczesny and Vermaelen, and yet they silenced the Allianz Arena within three minutes with a slick counter attack.
Santi Cazorla set the move in motion with a brilliant ball picked up by Ramsey, and a slip from the Bayern left-back Alaba allowed Walcott to smash across goal for Giroud to knock in.
The Bavarian crowd were incensed; Arsenal’s contingent over the moon. But neither reaction sprung Munich into action.
The German giants – so ruthless and impressive at the Emirates a fortnight ago – were remarkably sluggish.
Aside from Thomas Muller firing into the side netting on the half hour mark, they created very little and were petulant throughout.
With a score of 1-0 at half time, nobody was quite sure who had the momentum, but Bayern emerged after the break determined to make sure it was them.
They made three chances in the first five minutes, and Arjen Robben could have settled the encounter just after the hour after a beautiful backheel from Muller, but Fabianski beat his effort away.
And as long as Arsenal kept the German side out, chances came their way. A Carl Jenkinson cross just failed to make it through to Gervinho – a 70th minute substitute alongside Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – then the Ivorian turned wonderfully in the box before prodding agonisingly wide.
With five minutes left, the Gunners got the goal their performance deserved, Laurent Koscielny nodding home a corner.
Bayern were rattled, and the atmosphere was poisonous. But Arsenal just couldn’t manage to grab a third to complete a turnaround nobody would have predicted.
Glorious failure?
Arsene Wenger was full of praise but admitted the first leg had cost Arsenal.
“I believe we were very, very close,” he said.
“We were unlucky a few times as well. Overall, we had a great go. The regrets we have are from the first game when we conceded a very cheap goal in the last five minutes. If we had lost 2-1 at home you would see how important that goal was.
“It hurts very much but the positives are the performance and the spirit.”
Away from the positives that glorious failure induces, last night’s result confirmed the need for change.
Something must be done to prevent another trophy-less season for Arsenal next year.
Indeed, the whole English game must consider why it has no teams in the quarter-final draw of Europe’s premier competition for the first time in 17 years.
