#4 Arsenal crash out of the Champions League....again
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Mainstays of the Champions League for the best part of two decades now, Arsenal’s history in the tournament in recent years goes a little like this: slip-up in the group stage and finish as runners-up, end up drawn against one of the giants (Barcelona, for example) in the last sixteen and wind up eliminated.
This season could’ve been so much different.
Drawn in a group alongside French powerhouse Paris St. Germain – as well as minnows Ludogorets and Basel – Arsenal managed to finish top, taking two draws with the French champions and beating their other opponents home and away.
Winning the group in this fashion could’ve seen them draw Bayer Leverkusen or Benfica, but instead, fate conspired to draw them against Bayern Munich, who had managed to finish as runners-up in a group alongside last year’s finalist Atletico Madrid. Still, it looked like a potentially winnable tie for Arsenal – after all, this wasn’t the Guardiola-fuelled Bayern of two or three years ago.
Instead, Arsenal completely capitulated, losing the first leg at the Allianz Arena 5-1. Arsenal fans clung onto some belief when Theo Walcott opened the scoring in the second leg...but somehow Arsenal managed to lose that game 5-1 too, meaning the tie ended an embarrassing 10-2 on aggregate.
It was a huge fail for Arsenal, but the greatest fail for Arsene Wenger could be yet to come if the club misses out on Champions League qualification for next season.
