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Arsene Wenger's future as Arsenal manager has again been questioned after the Gunners departed the Champions League via a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Bayern Munich at a stunned Emirates Stadium.
Bayern ran riot to reach the quarter-finals with a 10-2 on aggregate against Arsenal, who was left humiliated by its worst home defeat since 1998.
"I felt that we produced a performance with spirit and pride that we wanted and after that the story finished badly," the under pressure Wenger said.
"The fact the end result will not highlight the quality of our performance is very disappointing."
Trailing 5-1 from the first leg and striving to become the first team in Champions League history to overturn such a deficit, Arsenal led at half-time through Theo Walcott's goal.
But once Robert Lewandowski equalised from the penalty spot and Arsenal captain Laurent Koscielny was sent off, the Bundesliga leaders ran amok against their dispirited hosts.
Robben capitalised on a defensive mistake in the 68th minute before substitute Douglas Costa curled in a third to send Arsenal's fans streaming towards the exits.
Bayern was not finished though and Arturo Vidal struck twice as Arsenal slumped to a seventh successive elimination at the competition's last-16 stage in humiliating fashion.
Arsenal fans had mounted a small-scale demonstration calling for an end to manager Wenger's 21-year reign at the club before kick-off, yet there was plenty to admire from his team in the first half as they attempted mission impossible.
In his program notes Wenger called for a salvaging of pride after Arsenal's second-half capitulation in Germany.
Alexis Sanchez was restored to the starting line-up after being dropped by Wenger against Liverpool and when Walcott smashed in a 20th-minute opener, it seemed Arsenal would at least exit with heads held high.
Olivier Giroud, pressed into action immediately before kick-off when Danny Welbeck injured himself in the warm-up, wasted a great chance to make it 2-0 straight after the interval.
Then it all went horribly wrong for Arsenal and turned into a personal nightmare for Wenger whose position will again come under intense scrutiny once the dust has settled.
Bayern levelled on the night when Lewandowski was pushed over while running into the box by Koscielny in the 55th minute.
Referee Tasos Sidiropoulos reached for his red card, ending Koscielny's evening, and Arsenal swiftly collapsed, just as it did when the French defender went off injured in the first leg.
Lewandowski sent David Ospina the wrong way from the spot to knock the stuffing out of Arsenal. Robben then capitalised on some poor defending to put Bayern ahead before substitute Douglas Costa curled in a third in the 78th minute.
If it had been a boxing match the towel would have been thrown in but there was no hiding place for Arsenal and Vidal struck two late goals, both from close-range as the home defence went AWOL, to the obvious glee of Bayern's sizeable support.
Bayern fell just short of matching its 11-goal victory margin over two legs against Sporting Lisbon in 2009 when it won 12-1 on aggregate.
Reuters/ABC
Topics: champions-league, soccer, sport, england, united-kingdom
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