Arsenal v Bayern Munich as it happened

Wojcech Szczesny was sent off and Mesut Ozil missed a penalty before Bayern showed their class with two second-half goals

9.36pm GMT

Thats it. There will be talk of the missed penalty and the red card, of course, but the most important detail is that Arsenal are a good side and Bayern a great one. That difference in class became increasingly obvious as the game progressed, both before and after Szczesny was sent off. Bye!

9.35pm GMT

90+1 min Kroos hits the post with a deliberate sidefoot from 20 yards, the ball shimmering across the turf like a bowling ball. He is a wonderful player. Arsenal have gone. If this went on for another ten minutes it would be 5-0.

9.34pm GMT

90 min Arsenal are on their knees. Gotzes shot deflects just wide of goal. There will be two added minutes.

9.34pm GMT

89 min When we write the Joy of Six: intelligent footballers, Thomas Muller will surely be up there. He is a miracle of resourcefulness.

9.33pm GMT

Thomas Muller finds the unmarked blade of grass in the penalty area and puts Arsenal out of Europe. Its a beautifully worked goal. Pizarros brilliant centre-to-right run takes Mertesacker out of the game; Muller pulls off Flamini to meet Lahms precise chipped pass from the right and head it carefully into the corner from eight yards. Thats a high-class goal.

9.31pm GMT

Well there that goes.

9.31pm GMT

87 min Koscielny wins a free-kick just inside the Bayern half. Its wasted by Wilshere.

Nomination for shortest debate of the year, says Colin Livingstone. Kroos or Wilshere.

9.30pm GMT

85 min Actually, perhaps Bayern, Robben excepted, could have been a little more ruthless in the last 15 minutes. It shouldnt matter but a score of 1-0 does give Arsenal at least a snifter of hope. Rosicky is booked for fouling Robben.

9.29pm GMT

83 min Regarding whether to join in and send you an abusive note it boils down to defending a person I like or siding with the powerful, says Ian Copetake. Well, you muppet ...

NB: the clip below contains some lively language.

9.27pm GMT

82 min Arsenal cross the halfway line.

9.26pm GMT

81 min Another wonderfully decisive run from Robben, buzzing infield from the right, takes him into the six-yard box before his cutback is cleared desperately for a corner.

9.23pm GMT

79 min Another Bayern change: the quiet Thiago off, the 472-year-old Chelsea alumnus Claudio Pizarro on. That means Bayern are playing two up front. And four at the back. 4-4-2 you might say. Peps the Spanish John Beck!

9.22pm GMT

78 min Ozil, says Sarah McLeroy. This was definitely in the brochure. Its who Ozil is, brilliant for a while and then invisible or even a liability the rest of the time. He can be sublime but that never lasts. He has shown this inability to play at his highest level for long periods of time running at every club he has played at.

Sorry, should have made it clearer: I meant that marking a full-back wasnt in the brochure that Arsenal showed him.

9.20pm GMT

77 min Imagine what Bayern could do to Manchester United if they get them in the quarter-finals!

9.20pm GMT

76 min Yes, that should have been a penalty. Muller tried to stay on his foot, which may have cost him, but he was clearly fouled having wrongfooted Koscielny. Muller didnt appeal, which is a bit odd. Then again Chris Waddle didnt appeal when he was clearly fouled in the box in the Italia 90 semi-final.

9.19pm GMT

75 min Ooooh ooohs Gary Neville when Muller goes over in the box after a challenge from Koscielny. I was reading abusive emails so missed it Im afraid.

9.18pm GMT

74 min Arsenal make their final substitution, with Tomas Rosicky replacing the tiring Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Its a bit of a surprise that Ozil is still on the field, mind.

9.17pm GMT

72 min Robben frees the overlapping Lahm, who sidefoots a fierce first-time cross towards the near post. Gotze meets it with a diving header across goal that deflects off Mertesacker and just wide of the near post.

9.16pm GMT

71 min This is a masterclass in possession football, less indulgent than Spain and the current Barcelona. Ramba Zamba > tiki-taka. The key is Robben, who has such penetration in his play. He has been absurdly good tonight.

9.15pm GMT

70 min Robben, on the right corner of the box, uses Ozil as a screen and Whitesides a delicious curling shot just wide of the far post. By the way the score, in passes, is Bayern 561-140 Arsenal.

9.13pm GMT

68 min Do you think Kroos could be underrated because of his quiet and often seemingly arrogant nature? says Pierre Muller. He looks like hes in a symbiosis with this thing on his foot, cant think of a actual football looking more elegant, more gifted with pure talent, but still... I dont like him, it just seems like he knows too well how good he is. Do you like him?

I do. On the list of arrogant German midfield players, surely he only just sneaks into the top 4000?

9.11pm GMT

66 min The sliding Muller is approximately 0.2423127 millimetres away from converting Rafinhas superb low cross from the right. Bayern have marmalised Arsenal down this right-hand side. Im amazed Wenger hasnt switched Ozil and Oxladee-Chamberlain. Ozil either doesnt want to or doesnt know how to defend.

9.09pm GMT

65 min As were all getting very excited about things tonight, potentially prematurely, how much more rope has Ozil got before officially Arshaving? says Elliot Carr-Barnsley. Since the skill for the penalty incident, he has seemed completely unaware of what hes meant to be achieving either going forward or covering back.

When he joined Arsenal, this definitely wasnt in the brochure.

9.08pm GMT

64 min Robben tees up Rafinha, whose first-time cross is headed wide by the under-pressure Gotze. Bayern take off Mandzukic and bring on the false nines false nine, Thomas Muller.

9.08pm GMT

63 min Fabianski makes a fine save from Robben. Kroos (I think), clipped a penetrative angled 20-yard pass over the head of Koscielny. Robben hared beyond the defence and sidefooted the ball first time back whence it came. I think it was a shot, although it may have been an attempted cross to Mandzukic. Either way, Fabianski plunged to his right to palm it away.

9.06pm GMT

62 min Red card and pelanty rule, says Felix Wood. The red card is a punishment for the player fouling in DOGSO. The pelanty is to ensure that no advantage is gained. The first is to discourage the foul being made in future, the latter to ensure the attacking team isnt penalised. One punitive, the other compensatory. One without the other would always mean it would be more worth risking the foul than not. Is that what you want? Really? YOURE A MONSTER.

9.05pm GMT

61 min Bayern are now roaming the green with the most delicious arrogance. We are better than you, and we are going to remind you of that fact for every remaining second of this match.

9.04pm GMT

60 min On Sky, Bill Leslie reminds us that thats Arsenals 100th red card under Wenger. Opta stats confirm that Wenger saw all 100 incidents, and disagreed with the lot.

9.03pm GMT

59 min Bayern have had 78 per cent of the possession in this half. Long live Ramba Zamba.

9.02pm GMT

57 min Arsenal cant get out of their third, never mind their half.

9.01pm GMT

56 min So England will have two European Cup quarter-finalists at most, to go with none last year. This is surely Englands worst period in Europe since the mid-1990s.

9.00pm GMT

55 min Sanogo is booked for running into Neuer. Wenger, on the touchline, makes a dive motion to Robben. He saw that incident, then. Wengers noggin has gone, just like Pellegrinis last night.

8.59pm GMT

This is a glorious goal from Kroos. It came, inevitably, from a move down the right. After a bit of Ramba Zamba, Lahm came infield and played the ball back to Kroos. He was 20 yards out, in front of the near post, and leaned back to place a languid curling shot into the top corner. Fabianski leapt to his left but had no chance. That was a majestic goal from a still underrated footballer.

8.58pm GMT

Pick that out.

8.57pm GMT

53 min Bayern are killing Arsenal down the right, with Rafinha and Robben. This time Robben comes infield, along the line of the box before shaping a nice curler towards the far post that is comfortably saved by the plunging Fabianski.

8.57pm GMT

52 min Wenger must be tempted to bring on Giroud for Sanogo. The problem is that would be his third substitution, a risk so early in the game.

8.56pm GMT

51 min A chance for Arsenal. Ozils inswinging free-kick from the right finds Koscielny, who loses Martinez just inside the area, but he overruns the ball.

8.54pm GMT

50 min Arsenal have barely touched the ball since half-time.

8.53pm GMT

48 min Should that have been another penalty to Bayern? Thiago was moving onto a driven cross from the left when he fell over and missed the ball. At the same time a challenge came in from behind. Whether that affected him we dont yet know, as they havent shown a replay. Nobody seemed to make very much of it. The ball was half-cleared to Kroos, whose long-range shot was straight at Fabianski and easily held.

8.50pm GMT

46 min Bayern make a half-time substitution, with Rafinha replacing Boateng. So Martinez goes to centre-back and Lahm into midfield. Gotzes dangerous cross towards Mandzukic is cleared.

8.48pm GMT

The more you see the penalty, the more you understand the perception that it was not a red card. Its really hard to call. Perhaps one of the covering defenders would have got there before Robben; I dont know. I know this isnt a popular standpoint in this age of faux outrage, but I can see both sides!

If Özil had gone past Boateng, says Haris Odobasic, wouldnt he have been 1 on 1 with Neuer which is a clear goalscoring opportunity, or not?

8.44pm GMT

Whats going on here then?

8.43pm GMT

It seems there are plenty of you who dont think it was a penalty, never mind a red card. I thought it was a clear decision once Id seen the first replay. We should see it again in a minute. Michael Ballack on Sky calls it a clear penalty and that he hates the rule whereby the player has to be sent off too. Hes right. The red card is for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, but what is a penalty if not a clear goalscoring opportunity? A penalty and a yellow seems fair unless it is a comically cynical foul.

In other news, that touch of Ozils to create the penalty was pure genius not only did he Cruyff-turn Boateng, he stunned the ball into the ground so that it bounced over Boatengs trailing leg, which then brought him down. If Ozil meant that and I think he did its ludicrous skill.

8.39pm GMT

Heres Wojcech Szczesny reaction to his red card.

8.37pm GMT

Somewhere in the world, Greavsie is nodding sagely. That was a funny old half, with two missed penalties and a red card overshadowing some high-class football from both sides. See you in 10 minutes.

8.35pm GMT

45+1 min There are suggestions that Szczesny responded to his red card with a popular playground hand signal. The one that conveys the perception that the recipient is an incorrigible onanist. Szczesny should have done it in the referees face. Whats the referee going to do, send him off again?

8.32pm GMT

45 min Robben is still being booed. I suppose theres an element of the boy who cried wolf but its certainly misplaced in this instance. He was clearly fouled. Meanwhile, Mandzukic is booked for something or other. Nobody seems to know what.

8.30pm GMT

44 min Kroos gets a final warning from the referee, presumably for repeat offending.

8.30pm GMT

43 min Naylors idea is a good one, says Simon Huxtable. I have another: if a player irritates the referee through his backchat, then the referee can give him a choice: either a yellow card or referees justice, which is a kick in the shins (without shinpads). A player already on a yellow might choose refs justice, but might face a lengthy spell on the sidelines if the ref is feeling particularly mean.

8.28pm GMT

42 min Robben is being booed for the crime of having his shinbone treated like a football by Szczesny.

8.26pm GMT

40 min This game is turning into a farce. Alaba sidefoots the penalty confidently but straight onto the outside of the left post, with Fabianski going the wrong way.

8.25pm GMT

39 min Santi Cazorla - who has contributed to Arsenals problems by doing no defending - is sacrificed, with the replacement goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski coming on.

8.24pm GMT

Actually, maybe it is a legitimate red card. Robben, zipping infield from the right, played a lovely one-two with Kroos, who clipped his return pass over the top of a static defence. Robben, flying through the air, got there just before Szczesny and was sent tumbling. A clear penalty. At first I thought Robben had pushed it too wide to be a clear goalscoring opportunity; on reflection Robben would surely have scored.

8.23pm GMT

This is clearly a penalty, though the red card seems more than a little harsh.

8.22pm GMT

36 min Arsenal are living on the seat of their grundies. Koscielnys stumble allows Robbens angled pass to put Mandzukic clear on the right of the box. He could hit a first-time cross shot but instead tries to come back inside the recovering last man Koscielny, who dispossesses him crucially.

8.21pm GMT

35 min This is a fine spell for Bayern, with the Ramba Zamba machine growling into life. That said, Szczesny hadnt had a save to make. Yet. He also has one then when the overlapping Alaba cuts the ball back sharply to Robben, whose fierce first-time shot from 10 yards hits the unwitting Mertesacker on the six-yard line. I think Szczesny would have saved it, though its hard to be certain. What is clear is that it was a beautiful move.

8.20pm GMT

32 min Gary Naylor claims the likes of Pelligrini should be captured by his rule. While Pellegrini was not covering himself in glory last night, Gary could take a look down Kings Road at Chelsea to see the problem with his idea. Chelsea would be paying Mourinho 4 million or so a year to never pick his team.

What do you mean claims? Pellegrini was bang out of order! Naylor cited him because it was the most recent incident. Everyone knows what Mourinhos like; nobody said otherwise. Give the keyboard outrage a rest.

8.17pm GMT

31 min Gibbs limps off and is replaced by Nacho Monreal.

8.15pm GMT

29 min Wilshere and Oxlade-Chamberlain have been very good so far. Another youngster, Gibbs, looks in trouble. He is lying on his back and, though hes not in any obvious pain, he appears to have pulled something. Moments earlier Boateng, booked when he conceded the penalty, stops an Arsenal counter-attack with a foul on Wilshere. He was 80 yards from his own goal and a second yellow would have been excessive, though some more officious jokers would have shown one.

8.14pm GMT

27 min Krooss inswinging free-kick from deep on the left is headed well wide by the under-pressure Mandzukic.

8.13pm GMT

26 min This managerial whining after big clubs lose, effecting the double whammy of intimidating referees and deflecting attention away from defeats is deeply tedious, says Gary Naylor. Touchline bans and fines arent going to deter them, so why not hit them where it hurts? The likes of Pelligrini should name his team and then have the opposition manager nominate a player to be stood down and replaced by a sub. Playground insults deserve (reverse) playground rules. And if not this... what?

STOP FOOTBALL?

8.11pm GMT

25 min A sinuous run from Oxlade-Chamberlain brings a corner for Arsenal. He has been terrific on the right wing. Cazorlas corner is taken down by Sanogo 15 yards out and then lumped clear. This is a good spell for Arsenal.

8.10pm GMT

22 min The influential Oxlade-Chamberlain harasses Alaba into a dodgy backpass and hares after it. Neuer gets there just before Oxlade-Chamberlain to hack clear.

8.07pm GMT

21 min Arsenals neat one-touch move ends with an errant touch from Sanogo just inside the box. Poor Ozil then incurs the displeasure of the crowd with a bad pass. How dare you Mesut!

8.04pm GMT

19 min As soon as I saw penalty in the MBM I was pretty sure the next update would be an Ozil miss, says Justin Kavanagh. No beef against him, great player, but doesnt feel like hes a killer penalty taker. Does Arsenal really have anyone who fits the bill?

Its often the case that the most beautiful creative players lack that need to kill. It was often said about Bergkamp (another dodgy penalty taker) and Laudrup as well.

8.04pm GMT

18 min A Bayern corner from the right is half cleared to Alaba, whose fizzing shot from 20 yards is well blocked by Flamini.

8.01pm GMT

17 min Maybe Sanogo is too young and inexperienced to be scared, says Gordon Burns. It almost worked for the USA in its quartefinal against Germany at the 2002 World Cup. I dont see why we should lose to Germany, said the young Landon Donovan before that game. Why should we lose to Germany?

And of course they lost to Germany. But yes, its a fair point; weve seen it so many times before.

8.01pm GMT

16 min A quiet period. Bayern are slowly warming up the Ramba Zamba. Arsenal were magnificent for those first 10 minutes, but this is starting to look ominous.

7.59pm GMT

14 min I always felt that Glenn Hoddles decision not to take Paul Gascoigne to the 1998 World Cup was a brave decision, says Karl Gibbons. Quite a few papers at the time felt it was wrong, and whilst 1998 didnt quite work out for England, they certainly didnt miss him. Sadly for him it seemed to fast forward his decline thereafter. The less said about Hoddles view of previous lives the better.

7.59pm GMT

13 min The mood of the match has changed with that penalty miss. Bayern are having a lot of the ball now, albeit with no penetration.

7.56pm GMT

10 min Arsenal had started wonderfully, tearing into Bayern, and they should be ahead. You know how these things play out.

7.55pm GMT

Oh my goodness. Ozil waited and waited and then hit a poor penalty that was far too straight and at saveable height. Neuer almost dived beyond it, moving to his left, but managed to beat it away with his right hand. As Daniel Harris says opposite me, it was similar to one of David Seamans saves away to Sampdoria in 1994-95.

7.54pm GMT

This is magnificent football from Arsenal! Ozil, put through on the left of the box, Cruyff-turns Boateng, who brings him down with a dangling leg and is booked. Thats a clear penalty. Ozil was actually offside when he ran onto Wilsheres through pass, but it was a stunning turn.

7.53pm GMT

6 min Neuer makes a great save from Sanogo! The ball broke in the box to Sanogo, who sidefooted a low first-time effort towards the right corner. Neuer, who had been moving the other way, did brilliantly to change direction and get down in time to palm the shot away.

7.52pm GMT

5 min Sanogo bursts clear on the right of the box after a penetrative pass from Wilshere. The move peters out but Sanogo has started with considerable zest. As have Arsenal. Oxlade-Chamberlains excellent cross from the right almost finds the head of Sanogo, with Boateng doing very well to clear.

7.50pm GMT

4 min One persons brave decision to play Sanogo is anothers idiocy, says Howard Fishman. Seems to me this is Arsenes passive-aggressive attitude towards Girouds indiscretions. Time and place, Arsene.

A decision can be brave and idiotic, surely?

7.49pm GMT

3 min Bayern are playing with Robben left and Gotze right. They barely got a kick for, er, 90 seconds, but they are on the ball now and Szczesny has to make a fantastic save from Kroos! The ball was moved lazily back and forth across midfield until Kroos, 30 yards shot, drilled a rising drive across goal with his left foot. Szczesny leapt to his left and tipped the ball over with his wrong hand, the right.

7.47pm GMT

2 min Theres been plenty said about Arsenes decisions, but Peps made a couple of interesting choices too, says Tanay Padhi. Muller on the bench, a proper centre-forward, and Lahm returning to fullback. Peps gone orthodox!

Hes no better than John Beck.

7.46pm GMT

1 min Arsenal kick off from left to right. They should enjoy that kick. Theres a belting atmosphere at the Emirates I know and a promotion to big-big-game duties for Skys excellent commentator Bill Leslie. Sanogo whips the crowd up some more with an intrepid if ultimately futile run.

7.34pm GMT

Prediction: Arsenal 1-3 Bayern.

7.33pm GMT

That book plug, says Conor Creighton. Undignified in the extreme but youre off the hook if you plug my book too. Saint Frank. Its not about football, its about a boy who can talk to animals. But I am an Arsenal fan and I live in Munich so there is context.

7.29pm GMT

In view of this Sanogo business, please send in your nominations for the bravest managerial decision. Ill start with two: Arrigo Sacchi taking off Roberto Baggio at USA 94, which some lummox wrote about here, and dear old Fergie dismantling his first great team in the summer of 1995.

7.27pm GMT

Perhaps Sanogo offers more penetration than Giroud? says Simon Naylor-Copestake. HONK!

Ill be the judge of a honk round here, sonny.

7.19pm GMT

Book one.

Book two.

7.15pm GMT

On my way to the game, says Tim OSullivan. Shame Thomas Muller has already worked out which blade of grass will be unmarked in the 18-yard box in the 77th minute, the clever swine. Anyway, if Bayern are a fusion of Barça 08-12 and last seasons Bayern, then we sort of fuse Flashdance with MC Hammer shit. Should be fun.

7.09pm GMT

I wouldnt agree on your Porto statement, Rob, says Venkata Subramanian. They had to overcome Manchester United in the round of 16,who were the defending Premier League champions that year and one of the heavy weights. After that their path was easy. Which in all fairness still means that, Arsenal will get Barcelona in the next round IF (infinitely big) they get past Bayern.

Yes, but United are the defending Premier League champions this season. They are also useless. United were, a couple of gloriously defiant FA Cup performances aside, a shambles in the second half of the 2003-04 season.

6.56pm GMT

6.42pm GMT

It seems to me that while Arsenal may rue their luck in so often meeting the top dogs once they get out of the group stage, the fact is that to win the competition you have to be able to knock out some of the favourites at some point down the line anyway, says Martin McCarthy. Is Wenger found tactically wanting in the big European games or are there other, more important factors explaining these defeats?

There are very detailed, very important, very subtle, very cerebral, very educated tactical reasons why Arsenal have failed to win the Champions League in recent years, and Id probably need a 274-page document to explain them fully. Either that or the teams who knocked them out had better players and played better.

6.00pm GMT

Ramba Zamba was the name given to describe the high-speed passing carousel operated by the greatest international team of all, West Germanys Netzer-inspired European Champions of 1972. Think of it as tiki-taka without the tedium and pomposity, and with a German edge. In other words the football being played by Pep Guardiolas Bayern Munich.

Bayern have quite the aura right now. Their league record reads like something from a computer game: P21 W19 D2 L0 F57 A9. They feel like a fusion of 2008-12 Barcelona and last seasons Bayern Munich, not to mention of Spanish and German stereotypes: indestructible indefatigable technically perfect robots who can drink 14 steins of beer and still do the nine-times table.