Arsenal's Champions League dreams were shattered by a humiliating 4-0 defeat to AC Milan in the first leg of their last 16 clash at the San Siro.
Kevin-Prince Boateng fired the Italians ahead on 15 minutes with a sublime strike, before two goals by former Manchester City frontman Robinho and a penalty from the impressive Zlatan Ibrahimovic put the tie beyond the Gunners.
Boateng fired the Italians ahead with a quarter of an hour gone. The former Portsmouth and Tottenham midfielder collected a chip to the edge of the Arsenal penalty area on his chest, before turning to fire the ball over Wojciech Szczesny and in off the underside of the crossbar.
It was 2-0 in the 38th minute when Ibrahimovic charged down the left channel and crossed for Robinho to nod in from six yards.
A slip from Thomas Vermaelen in the 49th minute gave Robinho the space to shoot at the edge of the box, and the Brazilian - whose £32.5million transfer to City in 2008 shattered the British record fee - slammed home what looked to be a tie-clinching third goal.
Any hopes of comeback were ended in the 78th minute when Djourou bundled over Ibrahimovic to concede a somewhat soft penalty, which the big Swede slotted into the bottom right corner, leaving Arsenal a mountain to climb in the return leg at Emirates Stadium on March 6.
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@Chiku ... it is a shame..... as you say, Walcott was a disaster (again) ... for a while in the last year I really thought he was going to become the great player everybody hoped he would, but he just reverted to being clueless?
Rosicky is an odd one .... I cannot fault his effort, but he just cannot seem to ever kick a ball in a useful direction? He's an embarassment.... oh well ....
@Habanero we need to be objective in our criticism at times...yesterday, we were beaten in the midfield, and some school boy mistakes by our defenders and the keeper. On the other hand, the Milan goalkeeper was just too good on the day although he was tested a few times. Arsenal, were supposed to be patient enough and keep the ball than to rush things, Song is slowly becoming a liability and I think Wenger is right by saying it was our worst terrible performance in the CL. The team on paper was perfect... Walcot was a disaster hence Wenger did the right thing by substituting him at half time.
Arsene knows............ clown!
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