Going into the sixth and final round of group play, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain both sat on 11 points. PSG, however, controlled the tiebreaker on head-to-head away goals, since the teams were tied on head-to-head points after two draws, as well as goal difference and goals scored. So Arsenal needed to outperform the Parisians on the final day in order to win the group.
This would be tricky, however, since PSG would get to tee off on hapless Ludogorets at home and Arsenal faced Basel away at the St. Jakob-Park, where it had taken PSG a 90th-minute goal to emerge victorious.
Things went swimmingly for Arsenal, however. Ludogorets, improbably, twice went ahead in Paris, necessitating an Edinson Cavani bicycle kick goal and a 92nd-minute Angel Di Maria equalizer just for PSG to pull a draw out of the fire.
And Arsenal ran out to a simple win.
The embattled Lucas Perez got two easy tap-ins early on – set to some house music.
This is significant. Because while the Gunners have now reached the second round of the Champions League an astonishing 17 years in a row, they’ve stranded in the round of 16 in each of the last six seasons. In five of those six years, they came second in their group and were subsequently drawn against a group winner because of the seeding system. They were twice paired with giants Barcelona and twice with world-beaters Bayern Munich. They faced Monaco in 2014-15, but did so in a year when that side was particularly strong.
The lone year that they won the group, in 2011-12, they had bad luck and got Milan in the next round – a team that had failed to win its group only because it had Barcelona in it.
Winning the group matters because it considerably enhances your chances of missing one of the big clubs in the round of 16, opening up a more viable path to the quarterfinals – that far-off promised land for Arsenal. Except that this year, the first time in half a decade the Gunners have managed it, it kind of doesn’t.
Because this year, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and PSG – through Arsenal’s own doing – have all placed second in their groups through some inexplicable fluke. If Real Madrid fails to beat Borussia Dortmund at home on Wednesday – they tied 2-2 in Germany in their first encounter back in September – the defending champions will also place second. In that case, three of last year’s semifinalists won’t be seeded and all would be available as one of the seven potential opponents to Arsenal. (Because PSG was in Arsenal’s group, the sides can’t draw each other in the next round.)
This is to say that this was probably the one year where Arsene Wenger’s tortured team might have been better off placing second than first.
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