Former Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov enjoyed a happy return against his old rivals as Monaco won 3-1 at Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Instead of standing up to be counted and making home advantage count, the Gunners' players under-performed in what was a truly shocking display in their first ever competitive clash against Arsene Wenger's former club Monaco. The two sides had met last summer in the Emirates Cup - with the French side winning 1-0 - and the visitors again came out on top this time.
Geoffrey Kondogbia and Berbatov set Monaco on their way before substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain appeared to have reignited the tie with a stoppage time strike.
That goal gave Arsenal a glimmer of a hope and a platform to build on for the second leg but then came the sucker punch as Monaco grabbed a third through substitute Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco.
Arsenal had actually started fairly well and had Danny Welbeck not been wasteful in front of goal they could have taken an early lead. Fellow forward Olivier Giroud was even more guilty of having a poor game up front as he wasted countless chances to get a goal for the hosts.
The French striker headed off target from an Alexis Sanchez corner before blazing over to ruin a fine passing move. Sanchez set up Santi Cazorla with a back heel before the Spaniard found Hector Bellerin. Bellerin then crossed for Giroud but he just lacked the finishing touch.
It was surprising from a man who had been in fine form in recent games and been firing in the goals. He was a shadow of his normal self and just couldn't hit a barn door in what was a huge night for the Gunners.
Arsenal may have had a lot of the ball but it was their opponents who took an unlikely lead against the run of play. Joao Moutinho squared the ball for Kondogbia and the 22-year-old unleashed a long-range effort to beat David Ospina in the Arsenal goal, with the aid of a slight deflection off Per Mertesacker.
The hosts had a chance to level in the closing minutes of the first half but that man Giroud again missed the target with a header.
Wenger's men came out of the blocks quickly after the restart with Giroud sending a shot wide before the Frenchman headed over from a Santi Cazorla free-kick.
Those misses proved costly as poor defending allowed Monaco to break quickly and Anthony Martial set up Berbatov, who collected the ball on the edge of the box and smashed a shot beyond Ospina.
At 2-0, Arsenal needed to find a response and quickly. They really should have reduced the deficit after 57 minutes but Sanchez's effort was well kept out by Danijel Subasic before Giroud fired the follow-up over with the goal at his mercy.
Monaco almost increased their advantage soon after but Ospina came out in the nick of time to superbly block Martial's effort.
Arsenal wasted further chances to get back in the game when substitute Theo Walcott saw his effort saved by Subasic before Sanchez later sent his volley into the side netting.
It took until second-half stoppage time for the Gunners' faithful to finally have something to smile about. Mesut Ozil's cross was only cleared as far as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and the England international curled a fine effort into the top corner to give the hosts a much-needed lifeline.
But just as it looked as if Arsenal had put the tie back in the balance, they threw it away to sum up what had been a frustrating and shocking day for the London club.
Deep into stoppage time Monaco grabbed their third goal as Ferreira-Carrasco raced through before sending a shot into the bottom corner.
The full-time whistle couldn't have come soon enough as that was one of the worst Arsenal displays I have seen in a long time. We are far too Jekyll and Hyde for my liking. One week we win away at the champions Manchester City then on another week we can do this. We are far too inconsistent.
No disrespect to Monaco but when the Champions League round of 16 draw was done everyone involved with Arsenal was no doubt delighted and thinking we actually had a chance to progress through to the quarter final. That should have been enough motivation to at least get a positive result in the home leg.
Instead we now have a huge uphill battle on our hands and have to score at least three goals in the away leg to avoiding an early exit from the competition.
I'm not saying it's impossible as two years ago we lost by the same scoreline in the first leg against an even bigger opponent in Bayern Munich. We then produced a wonderful display in Germany to win 2-0, only to lose away goals. We need to show similar second leg spirit against Monaco to stand a chance.
I am not feeling too confident and this is probably the most deflated I have felt writing an Arsenal blog....even more so than when we lost 2-1 to our bitter rivals Spurs earlier this month. But, at the same time, I will refuse to totally give up hope on our boys until the final whistle of the second leg.
It will be tough but not impossible so I'm just praying we can put in one hell of a huge performance in the second leg.
We need to dust ourselves down quickly and move on from the bad day at the office and find a huge response when we return to against with a home clash against Everton in the Premier League.
I don't get to see my beloved Gunners too often and actually have tickets to the match against the Toffees and all I can say is we better not play like we did against Monaco again. So come on lads show some improvement and produce a huge display in front of the home fans against Everton.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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