Bayern Into Double Figures Against Arsenal

Arsenal whimpered out of the Champions League at the last-16 for the seventh straight season with a 10-2 aggregate loss while Real Madrid avoided any hiccups at Napoli.

The Gunners entered the tie 5-1 down from the first leg but gave themselves a faint glimmer of hope this week as Theo Walcott rifled home the opener after 20 minutes as Arsene Wenger’s men pushed for what would have been a record-breaking comeback in the Champions League.

However, with 53 minutes gone Arsenal pushed the implosion button, Laurent Koscielny bringing down Robert Lewandowski in the area, conceding a penalty and initially earning a yellow card before the goal-line official’s intervention saw the defender sent off.

Lewandowski then brushed himself off to send David Ospina the wrong way and slot into the net to make it 6-2 on aggregate, before Arjen Robben robbed the ball from Alexis Sanchez and curled home Bayern’s second of the night 13 minutes later.

The Bundesliga giants were not done yet and Douglas Costa got in on the action soon after with an unstoppable curler into the top corner, before Arturo Vidal also got his name on the scoresheet with a smart dink over the goalkeeper after the Arsenal defence completely shut down.

Bayern eventually entered double figures with five minutes remaining, Vidal grabbing his brace after virtually walking the ball into the back of the net as the Germans bore down on Ospina three-to-one.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid cruised into the quarter-finals as they carved out a 3-1 win over Napoli to record a comfortable 6-2 aggregate victory.

Napoli managed to cut the aggregate gap to just one goal before half-time as Dries Mertens slotted home after 24 minutes, although the hosts were lucky not to again be two behind after Cristiano Ronaldo’s low drive from inside the area came back off the upright.

The Galacticos weren’t to be denied on the night, though, and got their goal seven minutes after the restart, Sergio Ramos rising highest to a corner to head home past Pepe Reina.

The Real Madrid captain got his second and Madrid’s fifth just six minutes later, another set piece and another header from the defender ending with the same result as the visitors took the lead on the night and extended their aggregate grip on the tie.

Alvaro Morata then added some extra gloss to the scoreline with an injury-time goal to send the reigning champions through to the next round in style.

Champions League last-16 results:

Arsenal 1-5 Bayern Munich (2-10 agg)

Napoli 1-3 Real Madrid (2-6 agg)

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