Arsene Wenger has, in the past, namechecked sides that he would like his Arsenal to be ranked alongside, such as Real Madrid of the late 1950s, Ajax of the 1970s and Milan under Arrigo Sacchi. After watching the 5-2 win away to Fenerbahce, I thought that what we were watching from the Gunners was in fact a huge nod towards the Real Madrid era of Di Stefano, Puskas, Gento and company.

The reason? Wenger’s concentration on what his team do in possession almost to the exclusion of what happens when they are not. The best way to prevent the opposition from scoring is to not let them have the ball. It was ironic in that sense that Fenerbahce’s first goal went down in the records as being netted for them courtesy of an Arsenal player.

Anyway, I looked up some European Cup Final scorelines after the game, just to see if the famous 7-3 final from 1960 was a bit of an exception. No. The first seven finals were won by either Real or Benfica. Only two of those matches saw less than five goals. Since 1970, only once have more than four been scored, when Liverpool beat Milan on spot kicks to decide a 3-3 game.

And that’s why Arsenal, for all their incredible ability to entertain on nights like yesterday’s in Turkey, are not going to win this tournament until they get a new manager. Yes, it was wonderful to watch. No-one could help but enjoy it, but let’s face facts. The poverty of Arsenal’s defending was only exceeded by the quality of their attacking. In the knockout rounds, they may well take some notable scalps, but they won’t win the tight games they need to against a Chelsea or an Inter.

Wenger’s vision of football is so idealistic that he will not allow the concept of negativity or denial to enter his thoughts. This is about doing it the right way. So the purists love the team, whilst admitting that it is doomed to failure.

Arsenal’s main defensive tactic is the offside trap. That’s all well and good as part of a back four’s armoury, but on its own, it’s like watching Russian roulette if you’ve an interest in one of the teams winning. And it’s of fairly limited use at corners!

The game has changed somewhat since 1960 and Real’s ten goal thriller against Eintracht Frankfurt. Back in those days, the vast number of the stadium witnesses were neither fans of the two sides nor corporate entertainments beneficiaries. It was locals who wanted to see a game of good football. If Arsenal were miraculously to reach the final in Rome, the locals wouldn’t be disappointed if they went along expecting one team to score seven goals. They could indeed come from Wenger’s team, but it could just as easily be the opposition.

Some view Wenger as progressive, and in the sense of his physical and technical preparation of his players, in English football, it would be difficult to argue otherwise. But in terms of his ethos, the man is rooted in his own childhood. 59 today, he would have been a ten-year-old when Real won their fifth successive European Cup Final one May Wednesday afternoon at Hampden Park. As the years advance, he seems to have decided recapturing his youth is the way to go. It makes for great entertainment, but the club’s reputation for having a solid defence is now certainly a thing of the past, and won’t be coming back as long as the current manager remains.

Until such a day, we can only sit back and enjoy triumphs like a 5-2 win in Turkey. But just don’t be expecting a similar feeling on the morning of Thursday 28th May next year.