Bayern Munich show Arsenal no mercy in Germany

Arsene Wenger was left berating an “extremely poor” defensive display as Bayern Munich thrashed his Arsenal side to leave their Champions League hopes dangling by a thread.

Thomas Muller bagged a brace and there were also strikes from David Alaba, Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben as Pep Guardiola’s men made up for their 2-0 loss in north London in the third game of the pool a fortnight ago.

It equalled Arsenal’s worst ever European defeat, when they suffered a 4-0 thrashing at AC Milan in 2012.

Arsenal sit fourth in Group F with three points from four games, trailing second-placed Olympiacos by six points.

After a convincing win two weeks prior at the Emirates stadium 2-0, Arsenal had hopes to reiterate the performance in Munich and to come back in the qualifying race to the Round of 16. Bayern top the group on nine points.

“No matter what percentage we have, we have to dig in for the chance to qualify. We now focus on the championship on Sunday and turn up with a different performance, we are in a strong position in the league but if we play like we did today we are going nowhere”. Arsenal then have to win at Olympiakos by more than one goal in the final pool match on 9 December.

“The aim was to win and the victory gives us a great chance to seal our qualification”, Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta said.

“If you look at the two games we played against them, today we had more chances than in the first game but they were much more efficient”. “We have to give everything, and realise that what we did tonight against Bayern wasn’t good enough to qualify anyway”.

Having had a lengthy injury list in Munich, Wenger proved he had not lost his sense of humour by quipping they had picked up no new knocks, “apart from in a few heads”.

“We have to win both games and get two goals on Olympiakos, but it’s not over and that’s how we have to approach it”, Per Mertesacker, the Arsenal defender, told BT Sport.

Arsenal and Manchester City are level atop the Premier League standings on 25 points after 11 matches, though the latter are ahead on goal difference.

The Gunners were embarrassing at the back and made it easier for Bayern to take them apart. We are not ideal yet, but we are improving step by step. I’m very concerned [about the injuries] because we are only in November and we have so many players out.