SO it’s goodnight Arsenal. Goodbye Arsene.
It is the end game now — the end of an era for one of English football’s historic clubs.
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Arsenal collapsed inside the Allianz Arena like a deck of cards.
Bayern Munich, boasting some of the best players in European football, are the real deal.
Arsenal are not. There is nowhere to hide.
Not for Arsene Wenger. Not for Arsenal Football Club. Not for these players. Arsenal reserves would have done better our there.
They tanked this. Gave up. Jacked it in. Unforgivable.
Arsenal are due to play the second leg on March 7 and they would be doing everybody a favour if they threw in their cards.
Bayern, top of the Bundesliga with seven points to spare, scored three times in ten irresistible minutes inside the Allianz Arena.
The four aces in the Bayern pack — Arjen Robben, Robert Lewandowski, Thiago Alcantara and Xabi Alonso — were electrifying. Arsenal were, well, Arsenal: a shambles.
Robben scored the pick with the opener, Alcantara bagged a couple, the arch goalhanger Lewandowski and substitute Thomas Muller were all on target.
Alexis Sanchez’s equaliser, eventually buried beyond Manuel Neuer after 30 minutes, is just a footnote.
To watch Sanchez walking around in the mother of all sulks after Alcantara scored Bayern’s third told its own story. By then these Arsenal boys were done. Beaten to everything. Beaten men.
The Champions League final is beyond them. It is ArsenalFanTV’s Cup final now.
That fella Robbie,, what with his bloomin’ camcorder that always seems to find the right bloke to have a right old rant at just the right time, will love this.
Wenger and the troops have made it very easy for him in the long, slow build-up to Monday’s FA Cup tie at Sutton.
There are five days of endless YouTube clips of punters losing the plot before they can give Wenger dog’s abuse at Gander Green Lane.
Wenger knows the rules. If you want to get a result in Bayern’s backyard, you cannot play like this. Open. Inviting. Embarrassing.
Arsenal were never really in this game, not in a way that made their travelling fans believe they were on for one of those dreamy European nights. To the goals, then.
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Robben scored with a signature strike, taking advantage of Arsenal’s nervy defence to bend his left-footed effort beyond Ospina. Easy.
Robben was giddy, getting into Lewandowski’s ribs after he failed to pick out his team-mate when he was in a better position.
Lewandowski, with five goals in the group stages, was desperate for another. The Poland forward got it, eventually.
He had a couple of chances in the first half, both with his head, but he sent them over Ospina’s bar.
By then, Bayern were looking a touch ragged.
They had been rattled, understandably so, when Serbian referee Milorad Mazic awarded Arsenal penalty after half an hour.
Up to then, they had restricted Arsenal up to then, snuffing everything that was sent into the feet of Sanchez.
That changed with the penalty.
Lewandowski kicked Laurent Koscielny and Mazic inexplicably awarded Arsenal a chance to equalise.
But Neuer saved, Bayern failed to clear his follow-up and Sanchez stuck it away at the third attempt.
Arsenal thought it was the game-changer. It turned out to be a temporary reprieve.
They led a charmed life, with Hector Bellerin somehow escaping when he handled David Alaba’s cross inside the penalty area.
Arsenal, for a short spell, had their tails up. Xhaka had their next chance, volleying straight at Neuer when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain crossed from the right.
Neuer rescued Bayern again, saving with his feet when Mesut Ozil tried to pick his spot just before half-time.
There was an adjustment after the break, a tweak to the system after Koscielny went off injured.
Within minutes, Bayern were back in front.
Wenger will be moaning for weeks about the ref’s decision to change his mind and award Bayern a goal-kick when Ozil over-ran the ball.
Seconds later, Lewandowski got his goal.
It was engineered by Robben, sending it wide for Philipp Lahm to cross for the Poland striker to finally score with his head.
Three minutes later they went 3-1 up when Alcantara read Lewandowski’s backheel on the edge of the area and Ospina was easily beaten.
Ospina, hopelessly exposed by this dopey Arsenal defence, was easily beaten.
The poor fella, pretty much faultless for all five goals, was wrong-footed when Alacantara scored again with the help of a deflection.
They conceded again when Muller, on as an 86th-minute substitute for Lewandowski, netted two minutes from time.
By then Arsenal were beyond pitiful.
Soon enough — today would be an idea — Wenger will have to decide whether it is time to stick or twist.
Here, he folded.
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