The driving force behind the continent’s standout team resembled four players in one as Arsenal put their old nemesis Bayern Munich to the sword
Shortly before the goal that left Arsenal’s supremacy in no doubt, Harry Kane embarked upon a lonely jaunt up their left flank. Much like the majority of Bayern Munich’s attacking endeavours, it ended almost as soon as it had begun. In common with a sizeable percentage it was terminated by Declan Rice, who thundered in and took the ball cleanly with a hooked right foot to a cheer that rivalled the night’s loudest.
The Emirates Stadium crowd was always going to enjoy that one, as Rice knew full well. He responded in kind with a roar and an exhortation to the gallery, perhaps to his teammates too: keep it going, crank up that volume, let’s see this thing through. Rice is the best player in Europe right now and, with that, there are standards to drive.
Moments later Arsenal, so often cowed in the past when given the chance to see off the elite at this level, scored a goal of devastating poise through Gabriel Martinelli to seal a 3-1 win and it felt impossible not to sense a weight lifting.
Or, perhaps, the shift in trajectory of a jet that has long since taken off. If Rice is the continent’s standout footballer then Arsenal are its supreme team. It is worth saying because, while that argument will be settled definitively in Budapest six months from now, there had been plenty to prove at the outset here. Nobody can deny any more that Arsenal are overwhelming favourites to win the Premier League; the evening’s big question was whether they could finally outsmart an old nemesis who are, familiarly, streaking clear at the top of their own domestic competition.
