Epic Come Back Not To Be

Arsenal had a mountain to climb after losing 4-0 to AC Milan in their first leg meeting of the Champions League last 16 and came close to reaching the summit after a thrilling first half that saw Laurent Koscielny, Tomáš Rosický and Robin van Persie score to pull back the aggregate to 3-4.

Arsenal kept up the momentum in the second half but AC Milan hung on thanks to Abbiati’s superb save of Gervinho’s deflected shot before clawing away Van Persie’s follow-up. There were several chances at both ends keeping us guessing to the end, but the game finished without a further goal seeing Arsenal out of the Champions League.

This leaves Chelsea as the only English side left in the Champions League although they also have an uphill struggle as they play host to Napoli, who bring with them a 3-1 win from the first leg.

Barcelona remain the favourites to win the 2011/2012 Champions League with Betfair placing them at 5/4. Real Madrid come in as second favourites making an all Spanish Final a likely prospect at 14/5.