The Sunday News
As Arsenal face another Champions League last-16 exit after their first leg against Bayern Munich, it’s difficult to recall the last time they last advanced in a knockout tie in the competition.
You have to go back seven years to 2010 for the last time the Gunners progressed from a knockout tie in Europe’s elite competition. They have been eliminated at the last 16 stage ever since. Their opponents were Porto back then and Arsene Wenger’s team had to fight back from a 2-1 first leg deficit.
Luckily, they had no problems on home soil, thrashing their opponents 5-0 courtesy of a hat-trick from Nicklas Bendtner and further goals from Samir Nasri and Emmanuel Eboue.
Unfortunately, Arsenal would run up against another familiar opponent in Barcelona in the next round and crash out 6-3 on aggregate. We take a look back at the team that started that night at the Emirates and what they’re up to now.
Goalkeeper
Manuel Almunia
The Spanish goalkeeper signed for Arsenal in 2004 as an understudy to Jens Lehmann but by the time of this match he’d worked his way up to become Arsenal’s first choice goalkeeper.
In this particular season, he would make 36 appearances in all competitions, but competition from Lukasz Fabianski and Wojciech Szczesny eventually saw him join Watford in 2012 at the age of 35. He spent a couple of seasons at Vicarage Road and was all set to join Italian side Cagliari until his medical detected a rare heart condition that forced his retirement.
Defence
Bacary Sagna
On one side of the defence was Sagna, another Frenchman signed by Arsene Wenger back in 2007 and handed the No 3 shirt previously worn by Ashley Cole.
He would go on to establish himself as the first choice in his position and was appreciated by Wenger for his reliability in defence and also his abilities pushing forward. Sagna took the now well-trodden route to Manchester in 2014 and remains a regular in the City team.
Thomas Vermaelen
The Belgian centre-half had joined Arsenal from Ajax the previous summer for an initial fee of around £7 million to replace the Manchester City-bound Kolo Toure and he partnered William Gallas at the back.
Aside from an injury-disrupted 2010-11 season, Vermaelen would play regularly at the back for the next four seasons and was highly-regarded both inside and outside the club. Vermaelen hung around long enough to lift the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2014 before signing for Barcelona in a deal worth £15 million. Unable to hold down a regular place, he is currently on loan at Roma.
Sol Campbell
It is sometimes forgotten that stalwart defender Campbell returned to Arsenal for an 11-game stint during this season.
Campbell was a legend at the club, having been part of the Gunners side that won the Premier League and FA Cup Double in 2002 and the even better “Invincibles” side that went the whole league season unbeaten in 2003-04.
He had spent three seasons at Portsmouth having left Arsenal in 2006 — weeks after scoring in their Champions League loss to Barcelona — and then ended up at Notts County following a takeover by wealthy Middle East businessmen. After that backfired, Campbell started training with Arsenal to maintain his fitness and resigned for them in the January. He scored a vital away goal in the first leg with Porto.
After retirement in 2012, the England international entered politics and worked with the Conservative party. He is now working as assistant to Dennis Lawrence, manager of the Trinidad and Tobago national team.
Gael Clichy
French left-back Clichy’s Arsenal career spanned the “Invincibles” era, their mid-noughties European progress and what turned into an interminable period of transition later in the decade. A regular throughout his time at the club, Clichy was another who signed for Manchester City, signing a four-year deal in the summer of 2011 for £7 million.
Clichy remains at City and has played regularly whether under Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini or Pep Guardiola, and has won two Premier League titles and two League Cups.
Midfield
Tomas Rosicky
The popular Czech midfielder had been five years an Arsenal player by this point and played often at this point.
Unfortunately, a succession of long-term injury absences meant Rosicky was gradually phased out of the first team but the club continued to support his rehabilitation. He finally left last summer and Rosicky now plays for Sparta Prague in his homeland, where the 36-year-old will hope for better fortune and a bit more time on the field.
Abou Diaby
France midfielder Diaby was about half-way through his decade-long Arsenal career that started promisingly but was to become plagued with injuries that severely restricted his playing time. The 2009-10 campaign was the high point of his Gunners career as he completed 40 games in all competitions, but it was sadly downhill from there with setback after setback.
Diaby was released in June 2015 and would join Marseille, where he has again suffered injury problems, making just six appearances in a season-and-a-half.
Alex Song
The Cameroon midfielder was one of the first names on Wenger’s team sheet at this time and played a fundamental role for Arsenal.
During his seven years with the club, Song made 227 appearances but didn’t win any silverware. Still, his stock was so high he was bought by Barcelona in a £15 million deal in 2012, signing a five-year deal.
Though he did feature for the Catalan giants, competition for places was incredibly tough and Song would spend two seasons on loan at West Ham.
In the end, he moved to Russian club Rubin Kazan on a free last summer.
Samir Nasri
French playmaker Nasri spent three seasons with Arsenal after Arsene Wenger signed him from Marseille for £12 million and he scored 27 goals in his 125 appearances for the club.
After an outstanding 2010-11 season, Nasri started attracting the interest of nouveau riche Manchester City and he joined the rush of Gunners players to move to the Etihad in a £25 million deal.
Nasri remains a City player but, with competition fierce and opportunities scarce last season, he joined Spanish side Sevilla on loan last summer. The Frenchman has been playing regularly and is set to come up against Leicester City in the last 16 of the Champions League next week.
Forwards
Nicklas Bendtner
He may be something of a laughing stock in the eyes of some, but at this time Bendtner was a deadly striker, as Porto were to discover when he scored a hat-trick in this second leg.
They were three of a dozen goals the Danish striker scored for Arsenal that season and it may well have been his finest moment in their colours. In his seven seasons with the club, Bendtner scored 45 goals in 171 matches, with that time including loan spells at Birmingham City, Sunderland and Juventus. Lord Bendtner, as he became known when a Danish tabloid jokingly bought him a square foot of land in Scotland to bestow the title, left for Wolfsburg in 2014 but now plays for Nottingham Forest in the Championship.
Andrey Arshavin
The Russian striker, signed from Zenit St Petersburg in the summer of 2008, proved quite effective for the Gunners, scoring 31 goals and contributing 38 assists during his two spells with the club.
He was in good form at this point and would score 12 goals during this particular season. Arshavin ultimately returned to Zenit and now, aged 35, plays for Kairat in the Kazakhstan Premier League.
– Online
