Arsene Wenger Insists They Played Very Well In Their 5-1 Defeat To Bayern Munich
Mar 8, 2017 at 1:55 PM
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that they played very well in their 5-1 drubbing to Bayern Munich in one of their worst displays ever in European football.
The Gunners crashed out of the competition on a 10-2 aggregate and have failed to reach the quarterfinals of the competition for the seventh successive season after getting knocked out in the same stage in all the previous seasons as well.
Arsenal took the lead early in the game as Theo Walcott fired the ball from a narrow-angle to beat Manuel Neuer just 20 minutes into the game. The tie looked very even in the first half as the Gunners looked the better side over the course of 45 minutes.
However, Bayern came out with more intent and the red card of Laurent Koscielny for the foul against Robert Lewandowski have played a massive impact in the game as the German giants ran riot in the aftermath of the incident.
Bayern has managed to put 5 goals into the net in the second half as they handed Arsenal a 5-1 defeat, a third successive result in their last three meetings.
Speaking after the game, Wenger looked perplexed with the result as the hosts were nearly as good as Bayern but have lost their plot in the second half with complacency.
‘It’s difficult to understand what happened but I still think my team produced a huge effort tonight and played very well,’ Wenger told BT Sport.
‘We were very unlucky with some decisions. It was 100 per cent a penalty for Theo, Lewandowski was offside and then it wasn’t a [Bayern] penalty.
‘Then the red card kills the game. Down to 10 men, needing to score four goals, it becomes impossible.
‘It’s just not serious [the decisions] when you see the importance of the game.’
He further added: ‘I felt we were in it.
‘You never know how Bayern would’ve reacted if we scored another goal. In the end, it looks very bad and doesn’t reflect our performance.
‘The second part of the game was spoiled by the referee.’
After the massive embarrassment at the hands of Bayern Munich, Arsene Wenger’s future at the club remains unclear as the Gunners would be forced to move on from the Frenchman at the end of the season if they do not finish in the top four.