Arsenal were crushed 5-1 by Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday. Here’s how we rated the Gunners’ players on a miserable night at the Allianz Arena.
David Ospina: 7
Some questioned Arsene Wenger’s decision to continue with Ospina as Champions League goalkeeper, ahead of the more experienced Petr Cech. But he did prevent a more embarrassing evening, saving from Arturo Vidal in the first half and Douglas Costa and Javi Martinez in the second – the latter a superb block from close range.
Hector Bellerin: 6
With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain having to tuck in slightly to try and shore up midfield, he was left exposed to Bayern’s marauding left-back David Alaba. He wasn’t able to make much of an impact going forward either.
Shkodran Mustafi: 4
Booked early on and his night went downhill from there. He was marmalised in the air by Robert Lewandowski for Bayern’s second goal and failed to check the run of Thiago Alcantara for the third.
Laurent Koscielny: 7
Made an outstanding tackle in the first half and won the penalty from which Arsenal equalised. Escaped the second-half carnage after going off with a hamstring injury.
Kieran Gibbs: 5
Did not cope at all well with the twin threat of Arjen Robben and overlapping full-back Philipp Lahm, but then who does? Had the captain’s armband for most of the second half – something which got duly mocked by pundits and fans alike as a sign of Arsenal’s lack of leaders.
Francis Coquelin: 4
A dreadful night for the Frenchman, who offered little in the way of protection, most notably when he allowed Robben to cut inside ahead of the first goal. Had only 23 touches and made just nine passes – three of which were to the opposition.
Granit Xhaka: 5
An enforced four-game absence does not seem to have dulled his enthusiasm for borderline tackles and sure enough he picked up another yellow card in the second half. Earlier he thumped a decent shot at Manuel Neuer but was outclassed by the Bayern midfield.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 5
Occasionally showed some good movement ahead of the ball, but failed to help out Bellerin and then compounded things by giving the ball away deep in his own half prior to the fifth goal.
Mesut Ozil: 5
Not, as some have suggested, totally anonymous – he had a shot saved by Neuer after an intelligent run off the ball, and was statistically one of Arsenal’s better passers. But they were brief moments in an otherwise underwhelming display which only adds fuel to the suggestion he goes missing in big games.
Alex Iwobi: 5
Worked hard but fairly ineffectual and was not strong enough on the ball to make an impact. That can be put down partly to his lack of experience at this rarefied level.
Alexis Sanchez: 6
His equalising goal – when he missed a penalty, fluffed the rebound and then struck the loose ball perfectly into the corner – was a microcosm of his performance as a whole. Tried and tried and tried, but only bits of it came off.
Gabriel: 5
Came on for Koscielny with the score at 1-1 – 15 minutes later and Arsenal were 4-1 down. Not all of that was down to him – he was caught cold by Lewandowski’s backheel for the third goal but could have done with Mustafi not going walkabout, and while he was all at sea for Bayern’s fifth, he had been dealt a bad hand by Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Theo Walcott: 6
Just nine touches in the 35 minutes he was on the pitch.
