It’s Tuesday and the second leg of the Uefa Champions League round of 16 is upon us. That is usually bad news for the Arsenal faithful, who have seen their team crash out at this stage in all six of their previous campaigns. It would seem that run will extend to seven, with Arsene Wenger’s team trailing 5-1 after the first leg against German champions Bayern Munich.

As history would have it, however, this scoreline of 5-1 is predictably in favour of the winning team from the first leg. However, out of the 80 times this scoreline has occurred in Champions League two-legged knockout ties, it has been reversed once once, by Real Madrid in the 1985-’86 edition of the competition, then known as the European Cup.

Arsenal’s race has been run

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Earlier this week, Arsene Wenger said, “The only advantage of our situation is that we have no choice. We have to attack and to try to score goals. We’ve played four times against Bayern, who are always the best or second-best team in Europe, so that makes it very difficult. We want to give ourselves a chance by attacking.”

But who are we kidding here? Arsenal’s competition is well and truly over. The mental image that comes to mind while thinking of the Gunners scoring four and shutting out the Bavarians at the same time is that of extreme difficulty.

Add to that a Bayern side that has only conceded 13 goals in the Bundesliga this season and an ever-improving Manuel Neuer, who has just set a Bayern record for the most number of clean sheets in a row, it is difficult to envisage anything but an Arsenal exit tonight.

Bottomline: Arsenal are playing for pride and, more importantly, to kick-start a late season salvo, which may still see them win the FA Cup and qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Bayern are the knockout kings

What makes it even more difficult for Arsenal is Bayern’s terrific record in the knockout stages of the competition. In their last five campaigns, Die Roten have made the semifinals each time, reaching the finals twice.

In two of them, 2012-’13 and the year after, they defeated Wenger’s men, something Le Prof and his army of ever-dwindling backers will be wary of. When faced with the Germans, they seemed to crumble like a poorly stacked domino pile.

They may have to go into the match without three of their usual back five. Captain Phillip Lahm is suspended, Jerome Boateng is not present in the matchday squad and Neuer is doubtful with a calf injury.

But with Mesut Ozil, Mo’ Elneny and Santi Cazorla all ruled out, Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin will take charge in the centre of midfield – the same pair who were overrun by Liverpool at the weekend.

The last thing that Arsene and his men want is a five-goal pasting at home. Achieve that and Monsieur Wenger’s position could become untenable.

Napoli and Maurizio Sarri have task cut out

Napoli’s task may be easier than Arsenal’s, but only marginally. A 2-0 win will suffice for the Partenopei, but their opponents Real Madrid have been in red-hot form in Europe coming into this match.

In their quest for a 12th European crown, Real have only lost one of their nine European encounters on the road and have found the net on 46 consecutive occasions. At the weekend, Zinedine Zidane’s men sans Cristiano Ronaldo swept aside Eibar 4-1.

The Italians had lost three of their four matches going into the weekend’s clash against Roma, but a Dries Mertens brace secured victory over their bitter rivals. Gaffer Maurizio Sarri tried to force the spotlight back onto Madrid. “The pressure is all on Madrid,” he said. “They are the world champions, the richest club, the best, so they have to qualify. However, our fans are world champions as well – and all of Europe will see that.”

Crucially, though, Mertens limped off with a calf muscle problem, but may be in line for a start after turning up for training on Monday.

The visitors have no such concerns and will be going in with an almost fit squad, barring Raphael Varane and Fabio Coentrao and will be hoping to snuff out any chances of a memorable Ritorno (comeback).

Should they need inspiration, Napoli need not look any further than their own loss at the hands of Chelsea in the 2011-’12 season, where a 3-1 margin from the first leg was wiped out by the Blues, who won the return leg 4-1 in extra time.

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