From Arsene knows to Arsene goes — curtain falls in classy send-off

London: ‘If God exists and one day I go up there and he will ask: ‘Do you want to come in? What have you done in your life?’ The only answer I will have is: ‘I tried to win football games.’ He will say: ‘Is that all you have done?’ And the only answer I will have is: ‘It’s not as easy as it looks.’”

In all honesty all the attention is not Wenger’s cup of tea. He just about tolerates it. He composed himself to address the crowd and speak from the heart. “I would like to wish my fellow manager Ferguson well,” he began, to great applause. “Thank you for having me for such a long time. I know that’s not easy. But above all I am like you. I am an Arsenal fan. That means more than just watching football. It is a way of life. It is caring about the beautiful game, the values we cherish and something that goes through every cell of our body.”

One could hear a pin drop. After the prolonged, neurotic, conflicted noise around the subject of the future of Arsenal under Wenger, the sound of peace breaking out was a balm. A mood of contented nostalgia washed around the Emirates Stadium. It was packed, some fans flew in from far and wide, the queues for the commemorative programmes wound through the concourses, the Merci Arsene T-shirts on every seat turned the stadium a deeper shade of red.

This is the second weighty goodbye of the Wenger years. The scenario 12 years ago also came with mixed emotions. Departing Highbury was a huge turning point for the club and one that was linked with the big ideas for modernising that seemed to go hand in hand with the success of early-era Wenger. That farewell was marked by Thierry Henry kneeling down to kiss the turf he called his garden on scoring a hat-trick that sealed Champions League football for the umpteenth consecutive season. Arsenal said their goodbyes and headed to their one and only Champions League final.

There was a worry this goodbye might be flattened slightly by the dashed dream of a Europa League final. But Arsenal put on the kind of show that epitomised Wenger’s unwavering belief in what he always called “the game we love to play”. The front players, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, dazzled.

It was poignant, though, that in the game’s dying embers, with his name ringing round again just before the final whistle, Wenger tried to concentrate on the game with that familiar furrowed brow and biting of nails.

Wenger always said he wanted to leave Arsenal in better shape than when he discovered it in the autumn of 1996. The scenarios are similar (finishing fifth in 1996, sixth today). But his legacy leaves Arsenal as a different club.

The owner, Stan Kroenke, was in attendance — booed when his face came up on the big screen, as was the chairman Sir Chips Keswick — and they will have their work cut out to guide the club through an inevitably challenging period of transition.