Arsenal was eliminated from the Champions League by Bayern Munich for a second straight year, and for the second straight year, Gunners manager Arsene Wenger looked out of his depth in guiding his club in this tournament.
Wenger's troops seemed to sit deep for most of the first half as if the aggregate were at 0-0 instead of 2-0. For Wenger, this failure is the latest in a laundry list of UCL eliminations. Here is a list of the failures that his club has endured in the last few years since his team actually competed in the final back in 2005-06.
In 2012-13, the team made it through the group stage against an admittedly weak selection of teams. Olympiacos, Montpellier and Schalke should have been a group that Arsenal won, but alas the team lost at home against the German side and had to settle for second place. Wenger's punishment was a meeting with Bayern Munich in which the team was vastly overwhelmed in the opening leg and lost 3-1. Despite a terrific effort in the second leg and a 2-0 win, Arsenal sealed its fate for its poor play at home.
In 2011-12, Arsenal earned first place in a group consisting of Olympiacos, Marseille and Borussia Dortmund but Wenger was unable to contend with AC Milan in the round of 16. The Italian side destroyed Arsenal 4-0 in the first leg; despite the English side's attempts to regain some respectability with a 3-0 win at home, it was not enough.
A year earlier, Arsenal finished second in a group that included Braga, Partizan and Shakhtar Donetsk. For the team's runner-up status it was drawn into a tie with Barcelona, a team that it had lost to in quarterfinals a year earlier. In 2009-10, the team had managed a 2-2 draw against Barca in the opening leg before surrendering a 4-1 loss at the Camp Nou. In 2010-11, the Gunners seemingly learned from their mistakes and took a 2-1 victory at home. However, Wenger was unable to prevent a second straight second leg collapse and had to watch his team implode in a 3-1 defeat at the Camp Nou.
It is interesting to draw a parallel here with the two straight Bayern Munich matchups. Against Barcelona, Wenger managed to get his troops ready for the opening leg but had to watch them implode in the return match. Against Munich, Arsenal folded in the first leg before putting up a more competitive effort in the second leg.
In 2008-09, Arsenal got past Roma on penalties, and then got past Villarreal but was upended 4-1 by Manchester United over two legs; a year earlier, Wenger managed to get the team past Milan in the round of 16, but was annihilated 5-3 by Liverpool on aggregate. In 2006-07, Arsenal faltered in the round of 16 against PSV Eindhoven.
Wenger has managed to get his team to the round of 16 in every tournament since the new format was introduced in 2003-04. However, with the exception of the final against Barcelona in 2005-06, this team has failed to find any success in the later stages of the tournament (or even get there).
Wenger has done a commendable job as the leader of Arsenal, but it is clear that his club is not going to have any European success under him. He has failed to bring the team a trophy in 10 years and his performances in this year's Champions League (and the Premier League) have been nothing short of disappointing.
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