This team have refused to bow in recent weeks. In each of their previous three Premier League matches they came from behind to win, most memorably in the derby against Tottenham Hotspur. And when they hurled off the shackles that had inhibited them in the first leg of this last-16 collision to take a three-goal half-time lead, the platform was in place for an I-was-there evening.
Arsenal emerged with European pride restored and then some; together with the continuation of recent progress, which ought to set them fair for a return to this competition next season. Players covered themselves in glory, particularly Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, in an unfamiliar deep-lying central midfield role, and Tomas Rosicky, who has emerged from what has felt like a hibernation.
But in the second half they ran out of steam against a Milan side who belatedly recovered their composure and showed their experience. Robin van Persie had the best chance to square things up on aggregate in the 59th minute but, at close quarters, his attempted chip was read by Christian Abbiati. Milan have been scarred from seemingly unassailable positions in the past. Think Deportivo La Coruña 2004 and Liverpool 2005. Arsenal 2012 so nearly checked into their hall of shame.
Wenger raged at the Slovenian referee Damir Skomina, who did endure erratic moments, but the manager's frustration would have been better directed at his lack of credible options in reserve. As his players tired he had little on the substitutes' bench, particularly in midfield, where injuries had bitten. Arsenal were left to lament their shocking performance in the first leg, on a pudding of a pitch at San Siro, and the plaudits here could not mask the pain.
At least, though, they could have few regrets on the night. They had prepared diligently, especially on the psychological side, with Wenger in almost ludicrously bullish pre-match form. There was, he had said, a "real possibility" that his team could prove the impossible was possible; if Milan could score four at home, so could they.
His players took their cue and mustered every last ounce of effort from the first whistle. Wenger and his side are nothing if not hopeless romantics and they fired the dreams of the home support with the early goal. Mark van Bommel had already been booked for a foul on Rosicky that means he will be suspended for the first leg of the next tie when he failed to track the outstanding Laurent Koscielny from Oxlade-Chamberlain's viciously inswinging corner. Van Bommel was not helped by his team-mate Philippe Mexès, who lost his bearings and blocked him off. Koscielny profited from close range.
The crowd was energised; ditto those in red shirts. Van Persie twice worked Abbiati before the occasion was ignited by the second goal. Again the defending was dire; battle-hardened Serie A teams are simply not supposed to concede like this. Theo Walcott's low cross from the right looked harmless but Thiago Silva's clearance was directed weakly at Rosicky, who was hovering just inside the area. The Czech measured a cool side-foot finish inside the near corner and the passion of the celebrations reflected the feeling that Milan could be taken. The visitors were prisoners in their shells.
Hope turned to conviction upon the third. Oxlade-Chamberlain's burst into the area was checked illegally by the dismal Djamel Mesbah and Van Persie did what he does from the spot. The longer that he was forced to delay his kick by Van Bommel, his Holland team-mate, the more of a certainty it became that he would score his 32nd goal of a remarkable season.
Wenger did not want the first half to end. The TV cameras picked out a banner with the phrase "It's up for grabs now", and the sense that it could be Arsenal's night hardened when Stephan El Shaarawy, the Milan prodigy with the rock star's haircut, fluffed a gilt-edged chance in the 45th minute.
The fear, though, was that Arsenal could not maintain their intensity in the second half and Milan, having regrouped at the interval, emerged in more compact fashion. Then again, it would have been difficult for them to be any more inept. Zlatan Ibrahimovic came to life and Milan made inroads into Arsenal territory.
It felt as though the next goal would win it and Arsenal went dramatically close. Rosicky led a break and when Gervinho's shot deflected off Mexès, Abbiati needed to change direction smartly to save. The ball broke to Van Persie; the Emirates held its breath. Abbiati, though, thrust up a hand to paw the effort away. The move was Arsenal's only clear opportunity of the second period.
As they chased glory, Wenger's team diced with death. Wojciech Szczesny's dreadful clearance gave Ibrahimovic a sighting and the striker's shot fizzed just wide. Then Antonio Nocerino somehow diverted a poke from point-blank range back at the goalkeeper, when half of the net was empty. Milan, however, dragged themselves over the line.
Source: David Hytner, The Guardian on 6 Mar 12
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