■ Uefa Champions League last-16 first leg: Bayern Munich v Arsenal — Wednesday, 11.45pm UAE
When it comes to the Uefa Champions League, Real Madrid represent the gold standard. No other club has such an indelible association with the European Cup, or as many successes in it.
But over the next couple of weeks, Madrid could lose one of their distinctions to Arsenal. Yet, Arsenal being Arsenal, it is something of a mixed blessing, an indication of consistency that many find frustrating.
It can be deemed underachievement when, in the cold light of day, it often is not. But it is a particularly Arsenal-esque predicament.
Madrid had set an unwanted record in the Champions League, exiting in the last 16 in each of the six campaigns from 2005 to 2010. Arsenal have already emulated them in the six subsequent seasons. If history is any guide, they will soon surpass them and Arsenal is a club where history tends to repeat itself.
Arsenal have been pitted against Bayern Munich for the fourth time in five seasons, and the third at this stage. They have actually won two and drawn one of those six games while reinforcing the perception the German champions are a considerably superior side.
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“We have bad experiences against them,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.
But as he noted, Arsenal have triumphed at the Allianz Arena. Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny scored in a 2-0 victory in 2013, the year Bayern last won the Champions League. Yet it was an Arsenal-esque near miss, fashioned in idiosyncratic style.
They exited on away goals, just as they did to Monaco in 2015. They had lost the first leg, just as they have done in each of their last five ties at this stage. Arsenal’s failures can be heroic, given their tendency to mount second-leg comebacks, but to their critics, they are failures nonetheless.
A propensity to start such ties badly is damaging. Normally it is all the more damning as they are at home. Now their reward for topping their group for the first time since 2012 is a second leg at the Emirates. Yet, in eminently predictable fashion, Arsenal drew, along with Madrid, arguably the strongest runners-up.
Bayern boast 15 consecutive home victories in the Champions League and, if the sense is they have regressed since Pep Guardiola left, a composite 11 would contain very few Arsenal players.
Robert Lewandowski is arguably the best out-and-out striker in the world, so Alexis Sanchez would have to revert to the flanks. Hector Bellerin has been a revelation at right-back in recent years, but the retiring Philipp Lahm is, Guardiola thinks, one of the best players ever. If either Koscielny or Shkodran Mustafi were in, it is only because Jerome Boateng has been injured.
And while Wenger’s teams can be defined by their midfielders, it is a moot point if any would get in the Bayern side. Michael Ballack advised Mesut Ozil to leave Arsenal for Bavaria to win titles but the World Cup winner’s mediocre record in major matches for Arsenal could act as a deterrent to Bayern.
Ozil’s counterpart on Wednesday night should be Thomas Muller, whose goals have been unusually scarce this season but who has a capacity to influence any game.
Ozil missed a penalty at 0-0 in their first-leg meeting two years ago and Bayern duly won 2-0. For some, it may qualify as the definitive moment of an Arsenal career that has promised more than it has delivered. But perhaps it is worth noting that Arsenal’s last-16 exits have come to Barcelona twice, Bayern twice, AC Milan and Monaco. They were only favourites only once and Monaco represented the great missed opportunity.
The others come under the category of defeats to stronger sides. Another may beckon in Arsenal’s pattern of unwanted consistency.
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