After the nostalgia, Arsenal fans return to reality

This was the tie both sides said they had wanted, with each viewing the other as the best bet for a Champions League future, writes Jon West.

Yet Arsenal now possess a slimmer chance of progressing than Manchester City, who must win in Barcelona.

Inevitably, a meeting of these two clubs leads us down the road signposted ‘Arsene Wenger nostalgia’ as he was the man who ushered both into the modern age. Curly of hair, bespectacled, and often with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, the young man from Alsace, having caught Monaco’s eye at unfashionable Nancy, turned the principality club into contenders at home and abroad.