Arsenal in Champions League: Do the Gunners actually want to progress in Europe?

With the European Cup out of reach focus at the Emirates might be the Premier League

Petr Cech after Arsenal's 5-1 loss to Bayern Munich (GETTY IMAGES)

There was a diplomatic incident the last time Sir Alex Ferguson lost to the Germans – the “typical Germans” as he so memorably described them after a Champions League quarter-final defeat by Bayern Munich five years ago. Yet when Arsène Wenger came up to offer an assessment on the evisceration of Arsenal late on Wednesday night – indisputably their most abject defeat in the competition – he actually appeared mildly indifferent.

Wenger ended proceedings by volunteering a joke. “From tonight we have no more injuries. Apart from the heads, we have no injuries,” he said of the psychological effects of being Thomas Müller-ed, and there was some joviality when he cited longevity as a reason not to put the 5-1 hammering into context.

“My memory is not good enough to tell you in 19 years if it is my worst performance.” To hear all this and then witness the energy of Pep Guardiola, arriving to describe passionately how he feels he is finally making the Bayern team his own, made you wonder whether Wenger really wants to progress in the Champions League at all.

He certainly did once, in the days after he arrived and turned Arsenal and their backward ways on their head: literally, if you include some of the yoga regimes he introduced. There was a kind of a mourning for him after that controversial final defeat by Barcelona in the Stade de France, 10 years ago next summer.

But that was then. Bayern were allowed to build a huge superiority during Arsenal’s barren transfer market years when constructing the Emirates Stadium became their financial priority. It is hard to avoid the impression that Wenger knows that a return to the Champions League final is a pipedream: utterly unrealistic and unachievable.

What does look within Arsenal’s grasp, though, is a first Premier League title for 12 years – which is a very good reason not to mourn an early end to continental football.

Wenger could be forgiven for ranking Tottenham on Sunday far higher on his list of mental calculations. Though Wenger had Laurent Koscielny – the defender whose fitness looks crucial to the Premier League campaign – listed as a substitute for the Allianz Arena teamsheet, the Frenchman did not even change or warm up.

Of course, you won’t find him admitting to mixed feelings about Europe. His players promised, to a man, that they would be moving heaven and earth to get the win over Dynamo Zagreb and two-goal superiority in Athens against Olympiakos on 9 December which are now required. “We will fight until the last minute. We can win both games and go head to head with Olympiakos. We go to Greece with a final to play,” promised goalkeeper Petr Cech.

But what lies beyond if they do scrape through? Another night in Bavaria, parading a demotivated Mathieu Debuchy at full-back when Bayern have David Alaba? Asking Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin to protect midfield when Guardiola has Xabi Alonso, such a stellar presence on Wednesday?

The prospect of all this did not sound enticing to Per Mertesacker, who admitted Bayern had “played on another level” on Wednesday. “We felt already in the first half that it will not be easy. Then Bayern bring on [Arjen] Robben and [Arturo] Vidal. This is a different world. At least today. Since we were not able to contain them.”

Finishing third in the group – a highly conceivable scenario if Arsenal beat Zagreb but fall a goal short against Olympiakos – would be even worse. With a squad as thin as theirs, a Europa League campaign must be avoided.

The worrying part about the growing European deficit for Arsenal is that new pretenders are arriving on the scene to take up the challenge and unseat Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid. Witness Paris Saint-Germain’s excellent display in the Bernabeu on Tuesday, when they were unlucky to lose. And Manchester City’s performance in Sevilla, with Fernando, Fernandinho and Yaya Touré offering protection for the defence. That looked like something to take into the Allianz Arena.

Plenty will blame Wenger for the widening chasm. He allowed Morgan Schneiderlin, who would have provided some of the missing midfield ballast, to go to Manchester United; he has presided over a frugality that allowed cash reserves to grow to £200m.

Yet his club have only just put behind them that stadium construction era, in which keeping their best players was secondary to paying contractors. Only with the collective £75m spent on Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Özil did the picture change, leaving Bayern well ahead on the development curve and meaning City, under Abu Dhabi ownership since 2008, were in a far more advanced state of development.

The Premier League title does not seem such a remote notion. If Chelsea and Manchester United progress with City, Arsenal could find a critical advantage, knowing that no one will be talking about Bayern in November if they lift the title in May.

Guardiola reflected of his side: “We know each other now better. We know what we want. I know my players better. People think I know them immediately but you need time, of course.”

Wenger, who is looking to bring back the spirit of his early years at the club, would say the same of the team he is trying to build. A title would prove the point.