Arsenal's players were the subjects of some brutal player ratings from German outlet BILD after a dismal display against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.
The Bundesliga titans dumped the Gunners out of the Champions League following a 1-0 second-leg win at the Allianz Arena. Joshua Kimmich's 63rd minute header was enough to eliminate Mikel Arteta's side and hand Bayern a 3-2 aggregate victory following the 2-2 draw at the Emirates last week.
Arsenal actually started brightly and played more of their football in Bayern's defensive third than many expected, but a lapse in concentration defensively from both Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Martinelli meant Kimmich had plenty of space to head home emphatically past David Raya.
Many Gunners fans would have then expected some sort of response, especially when Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard were introduced, but the blunt attacking display continued. At no point were Bayern under any real pressure and secured their place in the semi-finals with relative ease.
As a result of the toothless performance, BILD did not hold back in their player ratings section. The publication measures player displays on a scale of one to six, with one being the best grade and six the worst. Four of Arsenal's players got the second-worst mark possible.
One of that particularly unfortunate quartet was Gunners talisman Bukayo Saka, who was marked as a five for what was one of his worst performances of an otherwise impressive campaign. His night's lowest point came right at the end, when instead of opting to shoot from a free-kick in a dangerous position, he chose to take it quickly and pass to Ben White who was soon closed down.
From the resulting corner, which ended up being one of the final kicks of the match, Saka failed to beat the first man. Considering what was riding on it and the fact that Gunners goalkeeper Raya had come up to try and force an equaliser, it was notably poor from the Arsenal academy graduate to not produce a more inviting corner.
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It must be said that Saka was not the only one who was deemed to have a terrible evening in the eyes of the German outlet. White, Jorginho and William Saliba were all also graded five's.
Of the four players BILD judged as the worst on the pitch on the night, only Jorginho was withdrawn by Arsenal boss Arteta. The former Chelsea star was hooked in place of Jesus as the Gunners searched desperately for an equaliser.
To add insult to injury, Arteta was also given a grade of five, with BILD clearly not a fan of the way the Spaniard set-up his side on the night. Despite the result, the Gunners manager made clear he was proud of his side's run to the last-eight, especially considering this season was Arsenal's first season back in the competition since 2016/17.
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