Arsenal’s highly inexperienced line-up did the club a lot of credit in the final Champions League group game last night. Sure, they failed to find the net, but chances aplenty were created, and hopefully, Carlos Vela will finish with greater aplomb the next time he is presented with the kind of opportunities he enjoyed against Olympiacos.

Arsenal lost a few hundred thousand of UEFA's prize money euros through the failure to gain any points, so a few weeks of Theo Walcott’s wages were sacrificed, but if ever there was a game where the result was irrelevant, then this was it. What mattered was the benefit it gave to the learning curve of the more inexperienced players and a number of them demonstrated that, if required, they could step into the first choice starting line-up should they be asked to plug a gap.

To Olympiacos, not conceding was all that really mattered, a draw enough to guarantee their own progress, and they approached the game that way. When the Gunners were caught out on the counter attack, it was a consequence of the way the team play – and there was little difference here between last night and a good number of matches this season. It’s a huge weakness, but one the fans have become accustomed to. To be critical of its appearance in this fixture would be churlish.

Star of the show was Aaron Ramsey. It might be a little over the top to say he ran the game, but his performance wasn’t far short. In brief, he was brilliant. And against a team that set up to challenge the Gunners to score against them, he played a full part in almost making that happen. Song’s presence in the middle undoubtedly helped and when actually in defensive mode (as opposed to being caught on the break), the team performed creditably.

Given the average age of the side was 20, and without Silvestre in its teens, this defeat was no disgrace. The players stepped up to the plate and could have won this game had they taken their chances. I’m not going to fret that they didn’t, just hope that they will improve and do better. Vela’s going to the World Cup finals with Mexico and if he is equally profligate, he will be back in plenty of time for pre-season training.

One final thing that struck me. I don’t know exactly how many traveled to Greece to watch this line-up, but for anyone that didn’t, most of the faces can be seen at the end of the northern line, normally on Monday evenings, about once a fortnight – for free.

This was the youngest line-up ever to take the field in the history of the competition. I suspect it is a record that may stand for decades, and perhaps the legacy that Arsène Wenger leaves in this competition. Can’t say in my heart of hearts that I can see the manager winning the thing, but hell, it’s a cup. Maybe we’ll get lucky. Roll on the last 16 draw to see where the spring will take us.