MUNICH: Bayern Munich officials must be dreading the day Arjen Robben decides to retire or leave.

The 33-year-old Dutch winger was at the heart of almost all of Bayern's attacking play in the 5-1 rout of Arsenal that put the Champions League quarter-finals within reach on Wednesday.

Robben was a constant threat to the Arsenal defence, his performance crowned early on with one of his trademark goals.

But it was his runs, his interplay, his movement and the danger he posed any time he faced a defender that earned a standing ovation from Bayern fans when coach Carlo Ancelotti took him off with just two minutes remaining.

Robben provided the breakthrough early on, cutting inside from the right to set his left foot, before letting fly with a shot that went in off the underside of the bar.

"It worked before a few times," he joked.

Defenders might know what's coming, but they seem helpless to stop it.

Robben almost did it again minutes later, and he forced a corner with another effort shortly after that.

Despite his own outstanding contribution, Robben was keen to focus on a great team performance overall.

"In the second half, we really played some amazing football. We really killed the game," he said.

Altogether, Robben had three attempts on target apart from the goal, all blocked, while his interplay with Philipp Lahm and Thiago Alcantara helped make the Arsenal defence look weak.

Nine passes went to Thiago, who scored two goals, and 20 to Lahm of 47 completed passes altogether. Almost nine out of every 10 attempted passes found their target.

"It worked very well today," Robben said. "I myself am a little surprised that we played so well. On the other hand, not so much, because I know that the team has a great character and the ability to always step up a level when it needs to."

Robben has a knack for scoring important goals. It was his 89th-minute strike that gave Bayern its last Champions League title against Bundesliga rival Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium in London in 2013.

Former Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, who led the team to the Champions League title in 2001, has spoken of Bayern's problem when it comes to replacing Robben, with neither Douglas Costa nor Kingsley Coman at the Dutch star's level.

Since joining from Real Madrid in 2009, Robben has scored 84 goals and set up 50 more in 156 league games.

No wonder the club was so keen to extend his contract beyond this season, even if he's entering the twilight of his career. Robben signed a one-year extension to June 2018 last month.

"If Arjen has the feeling he can no longer compete at the highest level, then he'll stop," Robben's father Hans said last month after his son signed the contract extension.

On Wednesday's showing, it doesn't look like he needs to stop any time soon.

Bayern Munich rout Arsenal 5-1 to put foot in quarter-finals

MUNICH: Bayern Munich answered its critics with a comprehensive 5-1 rout of Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League clash to move a step closer to the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Thiago Alcantara struck twice in a superb performance, and Arjen Robben, Robert Lewandowski and substitute Thomas Mueller scored the other goals.

The return match is March 7, when Bayern will be a hot favorite to advance.

"It's a very, very good position," Bayern captain Philipp Lahm said with a smile. "It should do."

Arsenal, which lost captain Laurent Koscielny to injury early in the second half, appears set to exit in the Round of 16 for the seventh season in a row.

"The real problems came after the third goal, because we lost our organization and looked really jaded," Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger said. "The last 25 minutes was like a nightmare for us because we had no response."

In the night's other first-leg match, Real Madrid rallied from a goal down to beat Napoli 3-1 in Spain.

Bayern extended its winning run at home in the competition to 16 games with a repeat of the score from the last time the sides met in November 2015.

"It's only one game," Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti said, playing down the significance of the win. "It's not the final, unfortunately."

But Ancelotti will be relieved his side showed what it is capable of after five unconvincing games since the winter break, when Bayern faced criticism for looking tired and lacking the dominance it displayed at the start of the season.

There was little Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina could do to stop Robben from opening the scoring in the 11th minute. Given too much space, the Dutchman cut inside as he's done so often before and let fly with a shot that went in off the underside of the bar.

Bayern dominated, and it seemed only a matter of time before the home side would add to its tally. Instead, Arsenal was given a lifeline when Lewandowski took down central defender Koscielny and the referee awarded the penalty before the half-hour mark.

Amid deafening whistles from the home fans, Manuel Neuer saved Alexis Sanchez' weak spot kick. Sanchez missed the rebound, but cut the Bayern fans' cheers short when he prodded in at the third attempt.

Suddenly the momentum was with Arsenal. Granit Xhaka should have scored when he shot straight at Neuer, and Mesut Ozil might have made it 2-1 at the break, only for Neuer to come to Bayern's rescue again.

But it was all Bayern after Arsenal lost Koscielny in the 49th minute.

Robben and Lahm combined on the right ring, the latter producing an inviting cross for Lewandowski to rise above two defenders and head inside the right post in the 53rd.

The Poland striker produced a brilliant back-heeled flick to send Thiago through to score another three minutes later.

Bayern had a host of other chances, first through Lewandowski, who struck the crossbar after rounding the 'keeper, and then through Robben, who was blocked by Kieran Gibbs, illegally according to the Bayern players, who demanded a penalty.

Those claims were forgotten when Thiago scored his second, minutes later, with a deflected shot after a corner, before he set up Mueller to complete the rout with two minutes remaining. The Germany forward had come on two minutes before.

"We have to cope with the result," Wenger said. "No matter what we say now, it's detrimental to us."