Well, this was certainly no drubbing. Arsenal gave it as much as they got and for the second year running, fell agonizingly short of creating the most amazing of comebacks, scoring a brilliant 2-0 win over the tournament favorites Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Bayern, who had won 3-1 in the first leg at the Emirates, scraped through on away goals with the tie ending 3-3 on aggregate.
An early goal from Olivier Giroud and a second late on from Laurent Koscielny was just not enough to produce what would have been one of the best ever results in the Champions League era, as Arsenal crashed out in the same stage for the second straight year, after falling under similar circumstances against AC Milan last year.
In the second game, Malaga eased through to the quarterfinals with a 3-1 aggregate win over Porto. The Spanish side won 2-0 in the second leg through goals from Isco and Roque Santa Cruz.
At the Allianz Arena, there were no major changes from Arsene Wenger, as the media had reported, with the Arsenal manager pretty much playing his strongest available side.
The likes of Walcott and Cazorla, who were tipped to start on the bench, were named in the first XI and Arsenal got off to the best possible start on the icy Allianz Arena pitch, scoring the opening goal in the third minute.
Tomas Rosicky played in Walcott on the right before the Arsenal forward fired in a perfect low cross for Giroud to tap in for the easiest of goals.
The weather, unfortunately, played a big part in the quality of the game, with players from both sides constantly losing their footing and unable to hold onto possession for too long.
Long balls and cross-field passes were the order of the day and those were very much in view from Bayern, who obviously know the conditions better.
Arsenal could not play their passing game on the slippery pitch and were sometimes a little guilty of being a little overanxious and because of it trying to do too much too quickly.
Bayern found a lot of space on the right, with Kieran Gibbs left isolated at times. However, the crosses from the likes of Philipp Lahm and Thomas Muller were found a little wanting with the Gunners comfortably enough dealing with the situation.
There were a couple of long-range efforts, with Luis Gustavo, filling in for the suspended Bastian Schweinsteiger, firing high off a corner. Toni Kroos, who scored that wonderful opener in the first leg, tested Lukasz Fabianski with a low effort, which the Arsenal keeper comfortably saved.
Arjen Robben then took a pot shot, which went wide, before Thomas Muller fired into the side netting from an acute angle.
Walcott, at the other end, produced another brilliant cross, but the ball just evaded Giroud at the far post, otherwise it could have been 2-0 for Arsenal going into the break.
The second half saw Bayern start with a little more purpose, and Arjen Robben nearly equalized when his left-footed strike from 20 yards whistled wide of Fabianski's left-hand post via a small deflection.
Kroos immediately after came close with a 20-yarder of his own, but the ball just went over the top right-hand post.
Walcott broke clear off a pass from Rosicky, but the referee's assistant put his flag up, when the Arsenal forward looked level. Walcott would have had a one-on-one with the keeper had the flag, as it probably should have, stayed down.
Shots from outside the box kept pouring in from Bayern, with Kroos, Robben and Gustavo firing wide with really troubling Fabianski.
Bayern got behind Arsenal's defense for the first time on the night, with Muller playing a clever backheel to send Robben free. The Dutch winger, though, fired his strike straight at Fabianski, who did well to stand tall and make the goal look small.
With a little over 20 minutes remaining, Wenger really needed to make a change, with either Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Gervinho coming on for Rosicky, who did not have a great game, and the manager duly obliged by making a double substitution, bringing on the duo for Walcott and Ramsey.
Gervinho came agonizingly close, turning brilliantly inside the box to create the opening, but his top poke went just wide of the post.
Bayern, worried about the Arsenal pressure, and clearly rattled, made a defensive substitution by bringing on Anatoliy Tymoschuk for Kroos as Jupp Heynckes looked to hold onto the 3-2 aggregate advantage, knowing that Arsenal still needed two goals to progress.
A little bit of individual brilliance from Muller saw the German international force a nice save from Fabianski, who had a really good game on his return from a long-term injury.
Bayern clearly did not expect such a tough outing against Arsenal, and some of their players, clearly frustrated, were having a few words with the away side's players; Arsenal though needed to try to create the impossible by scoring two in the final few minutes.
And Wenger's boys came to within one goal of an unbelievable comeback, with Laurent Koscielny scoring from a corner to send the away fans into raptures.
Try as they may though, the third goal just would not come as Bayern and their fans held a heaved a collective sigh of relief.
It does beg the question, however: Why of why did not Arsenal play this way in the first leg? Because had they done, this tie could have had a completely different result.
