Monaco humiliate Arsenal at the Emirates in the Champions League

A club that holds great memories for Arsene Wenger dealt him what looks like a fatal blow. Monaco made themselves completely comfortable in the Emirates with a composed, professional display beyond that of harried and misfiring Arsenal. It was a familiar North London foe in Dimitar Berbatov who scored what looks a crucial second away goal.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's strike on the mark of 90 minutes gave a foothold, averting total disaster, but then came Yannick Ferreira Carrasco's strike to make it 3-1. Arsenal did not have it in themselves to find another. Instead, an exit is likely to follow this humiliation.
They had chances; Olivier Giroud, in particular, wasted them. Following the final and most catastrophic miss of his six shots on goal, a close-range chance he rattled over, the Frenchman was removed. His manager was already sat in his dugout, adopting the low, bent-double position that signals his deep pain and disappointment.
Monaco are not Barcelona or Bayern Munich, recent conquerors, but they plundered their victory with disturbing ease. Geoffrey Kondogbia's opening goal meant that Arsenal had to break down a team feted for clean sheets. In trying, Arsenal completely lost themselves.
Leonardo Jardim's team do not bend easily, even in the absence of defenders like veteran Ricardo Carvalho and Andrea Raggi. In their stead, Wallace (just 20 years old) and Aymen Abennour fought manfully in the centre while Almamy Toure and Elderson scrapped devilishly hard on the flanks, too.

Arsenal's aim was clear from the opening moments. They looked to break through Monaco's defence and put the tie in their back pockets before they boarded the flight to the Principality. Oh dear. An attacking lineup, which placed a trio of Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck and Mesut Ozil behind Giroud suggested a goal power that never fired.
Their final balls were lacking and when moves broke down, a shortage of ball-winners beyond Francis Coquelin meant that Monaco were able to break forward ridiculously easily and take the pressure off their defence. Santi Cazorla, Coquelin's central partner, will always have the instinct to charge forward; on Wednesday night, he often made Arsenal's a five-man forward line. This was foolhardy.