Arsenal 1 Bayern Munich 3: Wenger left needing a miracle after early blows help German giants storm the Emirates

The ball looped in the air, spinning, spinning and by the time it landed, Arsenal were as good as out of Europe. This will in all likelihood be their last home Champions League match of the season. It may be their last here for some while.
Arsenal could win 2-0 in Munich next month and still go out. They will need one of the greatest comebacks in the history, not just of the club, but the European game to progress.
That third goal did it. Until then, Arsenal still had a puncher’s chance. Once Philipp Lahm’s cross had spun in off Mario Mandzukic and Arsenal’s Bacary Sagna, an unfortunate double act of perspiration and desperation, this tie had an air of inevitability around it.

Bad start: Toni Kroos smashes Bayern ahead with a superb volley in just the seventh minute

Glove affair: Germany midfielder Kroos celebrates his fine early strike at the Emirates Stadium

Huge pressure: Arsene Wenger and assistant Steve Bould watch on stony faced from the sidelines

Match facts

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Arteta, Wilshere, Ramsey (Rosicky 71), Cazorla, Podolski (Giroud 71), Walcott.
Subs not used:Mannone, Diaby, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin, Jenkinson.
Goals: Podolski 55.
Booked: Sagna, Vermaelen, Arteta, Ramsey, Podolski.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Lahm, Van Buyten, Dante, Alaba, Javi Martinez, Schweinsteiger, Muller, Kroos (Gustavo 73), Ribery (Robben 83), Mandzukic (Gomez 78).
Subs not used: Starke, Shaqiri, Rafinha, Tymoschuk.
Goals: Kroos 7, Muller 21, Mandzukic 77.
Booked: Lahm, Muller, Schweinsteiger.
Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (Norway)
Attendance: 59,974

And if, by some miracle, Arsenal do turn this tie and their season around, the revival will have hinged on one tiny bit of good fortune, marvelled over for years to come.
It will concern a corner that never was, and a goal that never should have been, that dragged Arsenal momentarily back into a game, having been outplayed for long periods.
Ten minutes into the second half, Arsenal two goals down, should have been more, seemingly dead and buried. Santi Cazorla takes a shot which hits Lukas Podolski on the back and diverts for a goal-kick. Except it is not given. Instead, referee Svein Oddvar Moen from Norway — one of the useless, over-promoted Scandinavian officials much beloved of UEFA — gives a corner.
Bayern Munich complain and perhaps lose their concentration from the set-piece. Jack Wilshere whips the ball in, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer fails to come for it and Bastian Schweinsteiger at the far post remains rooted to his spot. Incredibly, the ball simply pitches in the Munich area and bounces to Podolski, who heads it in. Later, substitute Olivier Giroud forces a superb save from Neuer after a Theo Walcott cross and Bayern look a little rattled. It is the goal that means Arsenal travel to Munich with a sniff. Not much of a sniff, granted; a hint of a sniff really. But a damn sight more than they would have had without Podolski’s goal.

From bad to wurst: Thomas Muller (centre) pounces to prod the German giants two goal to the good

Back of the net: Germany forward Muller (floored) watches as his poked shot flies past Wojciech Szczesny

Back of the net: Germany forward Muller (floored) watches as his poked shot flies past Wojciech Szczesny

Let the inquest begin: Per Mertesacker (centre) shows his unhappiness at Muller's goal

The dream — some may call it a  fantasy and a far-fetched one at that — was that Arsenal could repeat the feat of the underdog performed by Chelsea last season in Europe, and continue winning against the odds.
The conflict being that Chelsea were a resilient team of champions that had underachieved, while this Arsenal side had few memories of triumph on which to draw. This is a club without a trophy since 2005. Arsenal players these days leave to succeed. Since the FA Cup was raised aloft in Cardiff in 2005, the players departing Arsenal have won 64 trophies; those that remained, none.
So while the ambition of following Chelsea’s blueprint was admirable, executing that plan proved impossible. Many felt this could be a troubling night for Arsenal, although few suspected the home team would start as poorly as this. They were a goal behind after seven minutes, two down on 22 and should have been three adrift when booed off at  half-time had Mandzukic not missed the best chance of all.

Lifeline: Lukas Podolski (right) celebrates with Per Mertesacker after scoring in the second half

Poacher: Podolski capitalised on Manuel Neuer's mistake to head into an unguarded net against his old club

Start there, for it summed up  Arsenal’s malaise. In 2006, when Arsene Wenger steered his team to the Champions League final, their campaign was built on outstanding defence. They were missing Ashley Cole for much of that season and Mathieu Flamini, having never played the left-back position even at school, took his place with a quite remarkable determination. He left, of course, and these days Wenger turns to  centre-halves who do not have a fraction of Flamini’s bloody-mindedness, let alone that of Steve Bould, Martin Keown or Tony Adams.
When Bayern captain Lahm surged down the right flank, Arsenal’s defence had time to regroup, man up and mark up, too. Instead, when Mandzukic met the ball for a header in the penalty area he was in enough space to establish a small allotment, Per Mertesacker a yard away from him, like an interested bystander. Behind him, Thomas Muller lurked in glorious isolation. Had Mandzukic known the space he was in, he might have been more careful about the placement of his header. He steered it wide.
Looking back he will be filled with regret, he could have ended the tie at that moment, one quarter done.

Scrappy: Mario Mandzukic (centre left) gets on the end of a cross to bundle in Bayern's third goal

All too easy: Szczesny watches in horror as the ball bounces into his net for a third time on the night

It's all over: Schweinsteiger congratulates Mandzukic (centre) after his goal sealed victory

Down and nearly out: Arsenal players reflect on another bad night as Bayern celebrate their victory in north London

Not that many were holding out much hope for Arsenal as it was. The fighting spirit of English clubs notwithstanding, Munich do not look much like a team that will surrender the home leg. Somehow, they have recovered from the horror of losing a penalty shoot-out in a final held in their own stadium last May to return as one of the prime contenders for this season’s title.
They are technically impressive, strong, organised, quick on the break and capable of mounting a sustained threat. Pep Guardiola is no fool. There is work to be done in Bavaria, obviously, but not that much work. Now Arsenal — that would have been a project.

Fired up: Jack Wilshere gets involved in a confrontation with Kroos after a foul on Santi Cazorla

No way past: Bastian Schweinsteiger (second left) and Philipp Lahm combine to block Santi Cazorla's shot

Frustration: Schweinsteiger received a yellow card from ref Svein Oddvar that earned him a one-match ban

The moment Theo Walcott, the lone striker, broke down the right in the sixth minute and hit a low cross to nobody, there was trouble in the air. Thierry Henry played that role in 2006 quite beautifully. He would have held, he would have waited for the cavalry; Walcott did not possess the patience, or wit. It is a desperately hard and demanding detail, the spearhead of a 4-5-1 formation.
Munich, despite being the away team, pulled it off with greater attacking verve. Toni Kroos, who plays in support of Mandzukic, has been arguably the player of the season in the Bundesliga and he  continued that form with a superbly taken first goal. There was a hint of good fortune in the build-up, Muller’s cutback finding him more by luck than judgment, but Kroos’s  execution was pitched perfectly, drilling his shot into the turf, kicking up and over a despairing Wojciech  Szczesny in Arsenal’s goal.

Power brokers: Major shareholders Alisher Usmanov (left) and Stan Kroenke were in the stands

In full voice: Bayern supporters lit up the Emirates with flares before the match

The second, however, picked out a typical point of weakness. Kroos’s corner, inswinging, vicious, Arsenal’s defence naive and slow to act, meaning Daniel van Buyten’s header was saved by Szczesny before Muller reacted first to turn it into the net.
Arsenal’s second-half revival kept the tie alive, but the odds will still be stacked against them in the Allianz-Arena. This will need to be a  backs-to-the-wall performance as great as anything Chelsea pulled off last season; greater, considering this Arsenal team needs to reverse not just form but its recent history.