Last night, when Benfica's Rafa Silva capitalised on Dani Ceballos' second significant mistake of the evening to round Bernd Leno and score, Arsenal's season was hanging by a thread.
Suddenly, a tie which they were firmly in control of up until the final minutes of the first-half had blown up in their face. Now, with half-an-hour left, they needed two goals to save their season.
Spare a thought for Mikel Arteta, who watching on from the sidelines must have been dreading the inevitable onslaught that would have followed last-32 elimination in the Europa League.