Iwobi Dropped As Bayern Humiliate Arsenal; Real Stop Napoli

Nigeria forward Alex Iwobi was left out of the Arsenal squad that crashed out of the UEFA Champions League by losing 5-1 on the night and 10-2 on aggregate to German champions Bayern Munich in the round of 16 tie at the Emirates stadium on Tuesday night.

The Nigerian winger, who was not even on the bench on Tuesday, has made 34 appearances this term and scored four times.

It was the third time the Bavarians were dumping Arsenal out of the knockout stage in the competition.

Second half goals from Arturo Vidal, Douglas Costa, Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski cancelled out Theo Walcott’s 20th minute opener to send the Bavarians through to the quarter-finals of the competition for the seventh consecutive season.

Bayern started the game well, starving Arsenal of possession and restricting the Gunners to counter-attacks. But they got the opener when Walcott skipped past two defenders before firing a stunner into the roof of the net from an acute angle. 

He had a chance to double his side’s lead from the same spot he got the opener but made the wrong choice as he tried to replicate his goal heroics earlier, firing his effort into the side-netting.

At the restart Bayern were awarded a penalty after Laurent Koscielny was dismissed for a foul on Lewandowski in the box. The Poland forward converted the spot kick to restore parity.

Robben doubled Bayern’s advantage in the 68th minute after he capitalized on a poor clearance to beat David Ospina from close range.

Douglas Costa came on for Arjen Robben in the 71st minute and made it 3-1 for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

With ten minutes left to play, Arturo Vidal scored a brace in five minutes to complete the rout.

In Naples, Real Madrid completed a double over Napoli by defeating the Italian side 3-1 in the second leg to advance 6-2 on aggregate.

Dries Mertens’ early strike was not enough as goals from Sergio Ramos, an own goal from the Belgian winger and a late strike from Alvaro Morata ensured the Los Blancos booked a place in the last eight of the competition.

The Italian side dominated possession in the early stages of the game and it took them 24 minutes to get the opener but the Merengues fought back in the second half and scored three goals to move a step closer to defending their title.