Aaron Ramsey offers hope but Arsenal fall short and Monaco sneak through

They did their best to file this night among the great occasions of Arsène Wenger’s long reign. Briefly, they tempted us to think they might just manage it and, if nothing else, they played in a way that restored some pride. But then Arsenal have shown before they are accomplished at these second-leg assignments, chasing an improbable feat of escapology. It has become a recurring theme of their Champions League story and, ultimately, glorious failure still amounts to failure.

What a bewildering team they are when they can play with this distinction yet lose to the same side 3-1 at home. No team has recovered from that position in the European Cup since Ajax against Benfica in 1969, back in the days of Johan Cruyff and Eusébio, but Arsenal were agonisingly close to pulling it off.

Olivier Giroud had given them a first-half lead and when the substitute Aaron Ramsey made it 2-0, levelling the score at 3-3 on aggregate, there were still 10 minutes of normal play to go and another five of stoppages. Giroud brought a brilliant save from Monaco’s goalkeeper, Danijel Subasic, before the electronic board went up but the game ended with the visiting players on their knees. It is the fifth successive season they have gone out at this stage and the lesson for Arsenal is a familiar one. No team can play as badly as they did in the first leg and expect to get away with it.

A gallant effort? In many ways, perhaps, but it also must be hugely frustrating for Arsenal’s followers that their team waited until the second leg before reminding us of their qualities. Per Mertesacker had admitted he and his team-mates “weren’t really up for it mentally” after the first leg but nobody could make the same allegation here. Arsenal played with great purpose. They passed the ball with authority and Giroud, in particular, looked absolutely determined to absolve himself of any blame, having suffered so badly in the first leg. Santi Cazorla’s probing runs from midfield were another feature. Daniel Welbeck’s power and speed frequently troubled Monaco’s defence and Mesut Özil’s performance should subdue some of the disparagement he receives about not influencing important matches.

Arsenal, lest it be forgotten, were facing the team with the best defensive record in Ligue 1. They left thinking they had enough chances to be the first visiting team to score three goals here since 2011.

There was the first-half shot from Welbeck, a couple of minutes after Giroud’s goal, that struck a defender who was lying in the goalmouth and knew virtually nothing about it.

After the break, Özil flashed a shot wide from a position when he ought to have hit the target. The same player curled a free-kick towards the top corner only for Subasic to tip it over. Then, finally, there was that late chance for Giroud when he hooked the ball goalwards at the far post and Subasic clawed it away. Wenger reflected afterwards that Arsenal could have collected all the goals they needed before half-time. He also admitted he had confronted the Norwegian referee, Svein Oddvar Moen, at the interval, primarily because of the moment when Alexis Sánchez went down in the penalty area and was booked for diving.

Arsenal had just about all the momentum in the second half, too. Wenger made a calculated gamble with his decision to bring on Ramsey in place of Francis Coquelin just after the hour. It left his team without a defence-minded player outside their back four, with Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny also straying forward when they thought they could get away with it. That, in turn, left them vulnerable to the counterattack, especially when the quicker Yannick Ferreira Carrasco came on. In Wenger’s position, however, it had to be worth the risk – and it very nearly came off.

They had taken the lead in the 36th minute when Welbeck played in Giroud with a measured pass that initially gave him a chance on his left boot. The first shot came back to him off the oncoming Subasic but the ball came back to Giroud and he scored with a right-foot effort that was still rising as it hit the net.

Monaco attacked only sporadically after the opening quarter of an hour but relied mostly on defensive structure. Aymen Abdennour, in particular, was a formidable opponent and it was not until the late stages when the home side started to look edgy.

Arsenal kept on pressing and it was a bad mistake from the left-back, Layvin Kurzawa, that gave Ramsey his chance to fire in the second goal. Another substitute, Theo Walcott, had just hit a post and Kurzawa was panicked enough to play the ball straight to Ramsey. His shot was struck with power and precision and then he was off, sprinting back to the centre circle to restart the game as quickly as possible. Arsenal gave everything in those closing moments but the third goal eluded them and Wenger must be heartily sick of the now-familiar narrative of glorious failure.