THOUSANDS of tickets for Arsenal’s home leg against Bayern Munich have become available after their first leg disaster.
No tickets were left at the Emirates on the official club exchange before the 5-1 drubbing at the Allianz Arena – but now there is swathes of empty space.
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Boss Arsene Wenger needs his side to produce a miracle comeback in the second leg on March 7 – but clearly die-hard Gooners do not think the same.
At 9.36pm, about the time the game ended, the seat map at the 60,000 seater stadium was all red – meaning no seats were free for the hotly anticipated second leg.
Just 18 minutes later, and patches of available amber seats in various blocks start to become free, particularly in the upper tier of the West Stand.
At 10.12pm, more behind the goal in the famous North Bank seem to be becoming saleable, while at 10.42pm almost every block in the upper tier has seats free.
And just gone 11pm, once the magnitude of Arsenal’s task at hand has sunk in, tickets can be purchased in nearly every block of the ground.
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The away end in the right hand corner is of course largely untouched, as are the expensive executive boxes at Club Level of the Emirates.
And the family enclosure in the bottom right, where many season ticket holders sit with young children is understandably still mostly red.
It shows the disdain which Arsenal fans hold their team in its current state, notwithstanding the almost impossible task of trying to salvage their Champions League season which yet again looks in tatters.
Wenger's men fell behind early on after a stunning Arjen Robben strike from 25 yards, but fought back to level before half time as Alexis Sanchez scored.
Once the Gunners lost Laurent Koscielny to injury in the 49th minute, they crumbled with three goals in a ten minute blitz thanks to Robert Lewandowski and two from Thiago.
And there was still time for sub Thomas Muller to take advantage of a mistake by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to rub salt into the wound and make it 5-1 with his first touch.
It looks to be curtains for long-serving Wenger, whose rumours of a retirement at the end of the season seem to be becoming much more rooted in reality after this latest capitulation.
And while the tickets will surely be sold with a trip to the Emirates still a fantastic experience, die hard fans are clearly voting with their feet.
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