This is the way the Arsene era ends; not with a bang, but a whimper

KARACHI: For most Arsenal fans all over the world, the reality only started to sink in once the referee blew the final whistle at a delirious Wanda Metropolitano to draw the curtain on the club’s European exploits for Arsene Wenger.

There is to be no fairy-tale ending, no final hurrah, no going out on a high. Instead, Wenger leaves the club like he found it; in Europe’s second-tier competition.

Wenger’s announcement that he would finally be leaving “the love of his life” after 22 long, hard and sometimes magical years had meant after a very long time, players and fans alike were rallying behind the Frenchman; desperate to give him a fitting sending off to a man who transformed the club so much he may as well have remade it.



But for all the talk of doing it for Wenger, it was the Arsenal of the last decade that surfaced during the two legs against Atletico — profligate, toothless and spineless. It was fitting then that the same old issues led to their downfall — the lack of finishing, the lapses in concentration and the utter cluelessness in the face of a tough striker hell bent on rough housing them.

In typical fashion, Arsenal created chances but paid for their mistakes dearly and many players once again failed to show up.

All season long, Arsenal fans had accepted the realistic notion that this squad is simply not good enough to challenge for a major title, that it was time for Wenger to leave, that the club desperately required change. Wenger’s announcement that he was, finally, leaving brought about a feeling of optimism that Arsenal fans hadn’t felt in a while.

Arsenal fans, having long abandoned hope and expectation after seeing their team merely going through the motions time and again, suddenly garnered genuine belief that they could defeat Atletico. But such is life, and such is football. There was to be no miracle, only disappointment.



When it was all said and done, Wenger’s forlorn and wrinkled face looked every day his 68 years of age. Wenger, forever the romantic, perhaps had more belief in one final hurrah than the fans ever did. After all, belief has always been Wenger’s biggest forte; and his biggest flaw.

Yet this is how the Arsene era ends; not with a bang, but a whimper.