Wenger rallies troops as Gunners look to pull off a miracle in Munich

Arsene Wenger last night told his Arsenal side to remember their most famous victories in Europe during his 18-year tenure — and then outdo them by knocking Bayern Munich out of the Champions League tonight.

It may well be futile, as Wenger’s men look to overturn a 2-0 deficit against the defending champions, but he told them to think of the San Siro, the Bernabeu and last year’s victory in the Allianz Arena against these self-same opponents as they look to complete what would be a miraculous comeback.

Yet in doing so, Wenger revealed his own insecurities and the desire that burns within him to win this competition, claiming his team regularly have to compete in “special” (and it took a number of listens to ensure he did not say “suspicious”) circumstances by consistently having men sent off in the big European games.

That of course was the case in the first leg of this tie as Wojciech Szczesny saw red for a foul on Arjen Robben, but it could hardly be claimed it was a poor decision by the referee on that night, Nicola Rizzoli.

He is on stronger ground when pointing out Mikel Arteta’s red card in Naples back in December was harsh, while the dismissal of Robin van Persie for two yellow cards against Barcelona in 2011 — the second of which was for kicking the ball away — was an awful decision by referee Massimo Busacca.

But Wenger’s point has been made and Norwegian referee Svein Oddvar Moen will be under scrutiny.

“Manchester City played with 10 men (against Barcelona), we played with 10 men, incidentally we have played a few times with 10 men in Europe and always under very special circumstances.

“In the Champions League final (in 2006), now against Bayern and we played at Barcelona when we were in a position to qualify, it is a second yellow card and the only time I have seen that since I watched European football when Van Persie was sent off.

“So I hope tomorrow we get a fair chance to play with 11 against 11 until the end.”

Yet this detracted from what was otherwise a rousing rallying cry by Wenger.

The club’s best nights away from home in European football would undoubtedly include the 5-1 win at Inter Milan in 2003 — a game Wenger brought up unprompted — the 1-0 win at Real Madrid in 2006, the 2-0 victory at AC Milan in 2008, and a Thierry Henry-inspired 3-1 win at Roma, all the way back in 2002.

Wenger would like to add the 2-0 triumph here last year but that was ultimately in a losing cause, and the suspicion is that Bayern have learnt from that mistake a year ago and will not go easy on Arsenal again.

Still, there can be no doubting his assertion that if they do become the first team in Champions League history to go through after losing the home leg by two goals, it would top the lot.

“The statistics are against us, but we have also won 5-1 at Inter Milan, we have won everywhere in Europe, a 1-0 for example makes the result absolutely possible, so that is what we try to do,” he said.

“Would this be the best night if we win? Yes. We had a few nights but of course that would be absolutely great as it is a moment in the season where we want to be consistent.

“We had a convincing win on Saturday (against Everton). We know that our end of season now is down to consistency, and to build that consistency, a big win like that would be very helpful.

“It is a possible task, that is the most important for us. I believe my team has quality and ambition, and I believe if we produce a top level performance, then we can do it.

“I don’t think making a fast start it is key but it would be helpful. Even if we score later, we know we are in a similar situation to last season but a little bit of a better one because we lost last year 3-1 at home.

“Bayern at the moment is the team of course who are full of confidence because they are doing well, but we have a great opportunity to do it. I am absolutely confident that mentally we will be ready to play at our best.”

The odds are firmly stacked against them, though.

Manchester City’s defeat to Wigan means the FA Cup is surely Arsenal’s best chance of ending their nine-year trophy drought as they face the Latics in the semi-final, with Sheffield United and Hull the other sides left in the competition.

“If you want to say we’ll be favourites, I agree but being favourites doesn’t win games. Performances win games and that’s what we have to focus on.”

Starting tonight, with the toughest of all.