Arsenal fans and players past and present could not help but revel in former Gunner Serge Gnabry’s four-goal rout of Tottenham in the Champions League group stage.

Spurs were soundly beaten 7-2 by German champions Bayern Munich in north London, and Gnabry notched four of them as he announced himself on the global stage.

Gnabry came through as a teenager at Arsenal but was sold by the club to Werder Bremen in 2016, moving to Bayern the year after.

Former team-mate Hector Bellerin tweeted “@SergeGnabry joke man” after the winger’s performance, while Gunners legend Ian Wright tweeted five applause emojis.

Arsenal fans endured mixed emotions, pleased to see a former Gunner score heavily against Tottenham, but regretful that the club sold such a promising talent.

“Thankfully Gnabry scored so many times that it stopped being sad and became absolutely hilarious,” Arsenal fan James McNicholas (also known as gunnerblog) tweeted.

Actor, comedian and Arsenal fan Matthew Lucas also celebrated, posting “What a goal by gnabry” while another fan joked “Grant Serge Gnabry the freedom of Islington immediately.”

Former Norway and Middlesbrough player Jan Aage Fjortoft meanwhile pointed to Gnabry’s unsuccessful loan spell at West Brom not long before he left English football.

“Gnabry 4 goals against Tottenham. WBA lost 1-0 at Leeds. You know what I mean,” he tweeted.

And former Tottenham striker Gary Lineker offered Spurs fans a small crumb of comfort after Gnabry’s hat-trick goal, tweeting: “Superb hat-trick from Serge Gnabry. Only consolation for @SpursOfficial is that @Arsenal let him slip through the net.”

Champions League winner and former Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand was sympathetic towards Tottenham’s players on BT Sport, saying: “We’ve all been there. We got beat at United, 6-1 against Man City our arch rivals.

“That feeling is a horrendous feeling and as a player all you want is a game to come round again – you’d take a game tomorrow.

“It won’t go away completely but you want the opportunity to go out there and put on a performance and get a result to revitalise not only your team and staff, but the fans as well.”