There will be no fairy-tale ending to Arsene Wenger's 22-year reign at the club as Arsenal's European adventure ended after a 2-1 aggregate defeat against Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi-final.
We really should have taken advantage of having an extra man for most of the first leg. We controlled possession for spells well in both legs, but we lacked a killer instinct in front of goal and were ultimately made to pay the price for one or two moments of schoolboy defending.
We didn't play badly by any means, but in a game of such important where margins are so fine, we weren't good enough. We attacked well and put some good moves together, but at the same time we didn't test Jan Oblak nearly enough.
It was always going to be tough against a side with one of the best home defensive records and, although we played okay, it just wasn't enough and our remote chance of having Champions League football next season has now gone.
It was also the end of an era as it was the final European game of Wenger's reign. It is a shame it didn't end better, but we only have ourselves to blame as we wasted chances in the first leg before Madrid equalised.
We always knew it was going to be a hard task going into the second leg, but at 1-1 it still wasn't over just yet.
We took the game to them for parts of the second leg, but ultimately we didn't do enough with our possession and lacked a cutting edge up front that proved a key factor in the 1-0 away defeat.
Arsenal started brightly with Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil combining well early on before Alexandre Lacazette's cross curled just away from Jack Wilshere.
Atletico Madrid were on the attack soon after as Diego Costa beat Nacho Monreal and cut inside before sending a shot into the side netting from an acute angle.
Arsenal were dealt a big blow after eight minutes when captain Laurent Koscielny was stretchered off with a bad Achilles injury. Wenger later said it is too early to see how bad the injury is, but that it doesn't look good.
It definitely puts the rest of his season and his World Cup prospects into serious doubt. Calum Chambers came on, which initially worried me, but to be fair to him he stood up to be counted and put in a fairly decent performance, an improvement on some of his past displays.
Arsenal continued to pose a threat in attack, but couldn't do anything with it as passes from Monreal and Aaron Ramsey just failed to reach a team-mate.
Chambers came to the rescue and put in a superb block to deny Costa after 25 minutes as the game remained in the balance.
Arsenal pushed forward with Lacazette being forced wide by Diego Godin before picking out Ozil, whose shot was blocked by the defence.
Ramsey's through ball very nearly set up a chance soon after, but it was just inches away from Monreal tapping it in.
Although Arsenal were enjoying a decent amount of the ball, Atletico Madrid continued to pose a threat and probably looked the more likely to score. Koke sent a powerful volley just wide before Antoine Griezmann curled a shot off target.
Atletico Madrid moved ahead on aggregate in first-half stoppage time as Griezmann picked up possession and slipped in a sublime ball for Costa, who lifted the ball over the onrushing David Ospina. It was a well-taken goal and Costa was too strong for Hector Bellerin, who really should have done better in holding him off.
Pressure was now on Arsenal even more so to find a goal to force extra-time, but it nearly got worse for the Gunners within two minutes of the restart.
An excellent tackle from Shkodran Mustafi denied Griezmann before Costa got his head to a corner, but fortunately his effort was comfortably saved by Ospina.
Danny Welbeck made a great run at the defence before being stopped by a bad challenge from Madrid's Gabi, who was booked. Who knows where that move could have led had there not been a foul.
Arsenal wasted a great chance soon after when Wilshere's long-range strike sliced towards Ramsey, who brushed off two tackles, but couldn't quite fire his shot towards goal.
Madrid nearly made the Gunners pay as Costa turned past Mustafi, but luckily Chambers was on hand to deny him with a superb block as the Spanish striker was about to shoot.
Griezmann tried his luck shortly before the hour mark, but his free-kick sailed well wide.
Arsenal missed a flurry of chances as the game reached the hour mark. Ozil ran at the defence before sending a ball into box, but Godin cleared well, while the German's low drive narrowly missed the diving header of Lacazette soon after.
The closest the Gunners came to a goal was when Oblak produced a fine save to palm Xhaka's long-range shot around a post.
Chambers once again kept Arsenal's European hopes alive as he dived in to make a pivotal block to deny Griezmann.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan came off the bench with 22 minutes remaining and it didn't take him long to inject some life into the game, but in my opinion he really should have been brought on earlier.
The Armenian latched onto a loose ball before hitting a great shot just over and onto the roof of the net 18 minutes from time.
Time was beginning to run out for Arsenal as another chance went begging. A great ball over the top by Xhaka was headed down by Monreal, but it just missed Welbeck who was waiting to pounce.
Atletico Madrid ended the game on top with only an excellent last-ditch tackle by Xhaka denying Costa.
Arsenal's final chance fell to Ramsey, who latched onto a lofted pass by Xhaka, but before he could cause any real trouble Thomas Partey cleared the danger.
Substitute Fernando Torres nearly extended Madrid's advantage after latching onto Griezmann's pass, but Ospina produced a fine save to keep him out.
Arsenal failed to pose any real threat in the final 10 minutes, meaning Wenger's final European campaign ended in defeat and with the Gunners having no chance of Champions League football next season.
Whoever takes over the manager's hot-seat will have to be content with the Europa League in the 2018/19 campaign, a competition I have found it difficult to be too enthusiastic about until its latter stages.
EUROPA LEAGUE
Arsenal finished four points clear at the top of Group H and, although that only included one defeat, it wasn't exactly the most inspiring campaign.
A great 6-0 victory over BATE Borisov was probably the highlight of an otherwise uneventful group stages, which didn't really capture my imagination.
Without disrespecting our opponents we really should have produced more dominant attacking displays against Red Star Belgrade and Cologne.
In the round of 32 a dominant 3-0 away win at Ostersunds was nearly undone when we fell to a disappointing 2-1 home defeat in the second leg, but we still went through on aggregate.
Our best performance of the campaign was probably the first leg of our round of 16 tie when we won 2-0 at AC Milan. We followed that up with a 3-1 win at the Emirates to cruise through on aggregate.
We thrashed CSKA Moscow in the first leg of our quarter-final with an assured 4-1 victory, but it could have gone horribly wrong after going 2-0 down in the second leg. Fortunately late goals from Danny Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey ensured we still went through.
We then met Atletico Madrid in the semi-final and the rest is history...unfortunately not good history!
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
Like all Arsenal fans I'm not particularly happy at us having no Champions League football again next season.
Even with a new manager at the helm, the Europa League doesn't exactly fill me with as good a feeling as being in the Champions League, although I'd be over the moon if we did happen to win it next season.
European football under Wenger is now over and there are only three Premier League games left of his reign, starting with his final game at the Emirates against Burnley.
Let's hope we can end on three victories so Wenger can at least finish with positive results before the new era begins!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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