Arsenal were taught a lesson by Bayern Munich after missing golden opportunities

Who knows what direction this Champions League quarter-final would have gone in had Ben White taken the golden opportunity presented to him when Arsenal were one-nil up?

With a two-goal lead in the first 16 minutes, Mikel Arteta’s side could easily have run away with this tie, like so many had expected beforehand.

Instead they were given a lesson by a Bayern Munich side, that may be in a run of woeful form, but were driven here by their sheer desire to not end the season trophyless.

Not since 2012 have Bayern done that and two minutes after White shot straight at Manuel Neuer when he only had the keeper to beat, Serge Gnabry levelled after an Arsenal mistake.

The crowd were silenced and the complexion of the game shifted as Thomas Tuchel’s side grew in confidence. They went ahead 14 minutes later through a Harry Kane penalty before Leandro Trossard ensured that it would end all square, heading to Munich next week.

Arteta himself admitted that it was the key moment of the tie rather than the contentious penalty decisions that fuelled much of the conversation after.

Momentum in sport is a crazy thing and inside a ground without any visiting fans, an in-form Arsenal could have had one foot in a Champions League semi-final.

‘It is the critical moment of the match. Ben White is in front of Neuer to make it two-nil. We have to put the ball in the back of the net and it becomes a different moment,’ said Arteta. ‘And then in the Champions League, you cannot give anything to the opponent. We gave them two goals today. They are going to punish you,’ the Arsenal manager added.

Punish Arsenal they did with their only two attempts on goal in the first half. Arsenal had conceded two goals in their last 10 games before last night. Here, they