Arsenal were taught a lesson by Bayern Munich after missing golden opportunities

Who knows what direction this Champions League quarter-final would have gone in had Ben White taken the golden opportunity presented to him when Arsenal were one-nil up?

With a two-goal lead in the first 16 minutes, Mikel Arteta’s side could easily have run away with this tie, like so many had expected beforehand.

Instead they were given a lesson by a Bayern Munich side, that may be in a run of woeful form, but were driven here by their sheer desire to not end the season trophyless.

Not since 2012 have Bayern done that and two minutes after White shot straight at Manuel Neuer when he only had the keeper to beat, Serge Gnabry levelled after an Arsenal mistake.

The crowd were silenced and the complexion of the game shifted as Thomas Tuchel’s side grew in confidence. They went ahead 14 minutes later through a Harry Kane penalty before Leandro Trossard ensured that it would end all square, heading to Munich next week.

Arteta himself admitted that it was the key moment of the tie rather than the contentious penalty decisions that fuelled much of the conversation after.

Momentum in sport is a crazy thing and inside a ground without any visiting fans, an in-form Arsenal could have had one foot in a Champions League semi-final.

‘It is the critical moment of the match. Ben White is in front of Neuer to make it two-nil. We have to put the ball in the back of the net and it becomes a different moment,’ said Arteta. ‘And then in the Champions League, you cannot give anything to the opponent. We gave them two goals today. They are going to punish you,’ the Arsenal manager added.

Punish Arsenal they did with their only two attempts on goal in the first half. Arsenal had conceded two goals in their last 10 games before last night. Here, they conceded two in the space of 14 first-half minutes.

In essence, this was a game that suited Bayern who countered with ruthless precision and very nearly even snatched a late winner when Kingsley Coman’s effort hit the post.

‘Maybe it happened before to us in other games and you don’t get punished,’ Arteta said, when asked what had happened defensively. ‘This is the level against these kinds of players and this kind of opposition, especially when they have space. We let them run in on a few occasions and that’s something we have to do much better in for the second leg,’ he added.

There was no sugar-coating it. For Arsenal, it was a reminder too that to win at this level of the Champions League requires more than just attractive football. Arteta has worked wonders and transformed this Arsenal side into one that is a delight to watch yet that ruthlessness - which they have admittedly shown in glimpses in the Premier League recently - is what lies between them and silverware.

They needed a penalty shoot-out to get past an average Porto side and will now require a performance for the ages in Bavaria. The last time Arsenal won an away knockout tie in the Champions League was in 2008, when they became the first English side to beat AC Milan in Italy.

Against Man City ten days ago, they showed a different dimension - a level of character not previously seen by this Arsenal side. Undoubtedly, they will need every ounce of that too in front of 75,000 fans at the Allianz Arena next Wednesday.

Before the first leg, Arteta spoke about his team creating a history of their own. The impact of his substitutes on Tuesday night showed that this isn’t a side weighed down by the events of yesteryear thus there is little reason to worry about Arsenal’s last two trips to Munich, which ended in 5-1 wins for Bayern, in 2015 and 2017 respectively.

‘I am still very proud. I sense the belief there. We are going to go to Munich and have the chance to win it and we’re going to be better in certain areas and that’s how we are going to prepare for it,’ Arteta insisted afterwards.

Better is what they must be. Arsenal missed an opportunity last night but will get another chance. They know they are good enough to take it.