Arsenal knocked out of Champions League despite draw with Bayern Munich

Arsenal have been knocked out of the Champions League at the last-16 phase by Bayern Munich for the second consecutive season despite holding the European champions to a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena this evening.

Lukas Podolski's equaliser cancelled out a Bastian Schweinsteiger goal on the night to hand Bayern a 3-1 victory on aggregate and book their place in the quarter-finals.

The hosts enjoyed the first decent chance of the evening when Franck Ribery's cross found Arjen Robben, but the winger could not keep his effort down.

Bayern did have the ball in the back of the net six minutes later when Javi Martinez volleyed Thiago Alcantara's free kick past Lukas Fabianski, but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside.

The hosts had another opening in the 39th minute as Philipp Lahm picked out Mario Mandzukic with a cross, but the Croatian striker could only loop his header onto the roof of the net.

Mario Gotze was the next to threaten for the German giants as he latched on to a poor clearance from Thomas Vermaelen before forcing a good save from Fabianski.

Bayern did finally get the breakthrough 10 minutes after the restart when Ribery beat Bacary Sagna before feeding Schweinsteiger inside the box, and the midfielder had time and space to pick his spot and slide an effort past the keeper.

However, their lead lasted just two minutes as Arsenal restored their slim hopes of qualification through Podolski, who pushed Lahm off the ball before beating Manuel Neuer at his near post from a tight angle.

The hosts almost worked another way through the Gunners with a little more than 20 minutes remaining in the tie as David Alaba and Thiago combined to set up Mandzukic, but Fabianski was on hand to deny the danger before recovering in time to collect the rebound.

Bayern had a glorious chance to secure a win on the night when they were awarded a penalty in second-half stoppage time, but Thomas Muller's effort was saved by the boot of Fabianski.