Arsene Wenger
London: Arsene Wenger hit out at “scandalous” officiating by referee Tasos Sidiropoulos as Arsenal were dumped out of the Champions League having suffered a 10-2 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich.
Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud (left) and Aaron Ramsey appear dejected during the Champions League Round-of-16 second-leg encounter against Bayern Munich at Emirates Stadium in London on Tuesday. Arsenal lost 1-5 (aggregate 2-10). pic/Getty Images
Bundesliga champions ran out 5-1 winners in Germany last month, the pressure on Wenger has intensified after his 10 men lost by the same margin on Tuesday night — the biggest aggregate loss for an English club in the Champions League.
Bayern midfielder Arjen Robben (left) celebrates scoring a goal with teammate Arturo Vidal against Arsenal yesterday. Pic/AFP
Theo Walcott had put the Gunners ahead and then, after the break, Laurent Koscielny was sent off for bringing down Robert Lewandowski in the box. The Polish forward converted the penalty before Bayern ran riot, with Arjen Robben, Douglas Costa and a brace from Arturo Vidal securing another win for Carlo Ancelotti’s men.
Wenger insisted the referee had “killed” Arsenal’s chances. “I would say that we really put Bayern under pressure and that we were really unlucky because it was 100 per cent a penalty in the first half after the foul on Walcott,” he said. “In the second half, the referee killed the game. After that, it was very difficult. At that moment, not only was it not a penalty, but Lewandowski was also offside,” Wenger added.
‘Arsene’s reign at Emirates is imploding’
Ian Wright
London: Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright believes Arsene Wenger’s reign at the club is “imploding”. “He looks like a lost man… It just seems to be mounting up.
You’ve got the fans, the protests. It’s imploding,” Wright said. “You can’t go down to 10 men and not shore it up against a team like Bayern Munich. We’ve lost the tie down to 10 men, we maybe should have brought on a couple of defenders and kept it a little bit more respectable. It’s a sad day because we’ve gone out again and we’re going through a period in our history which is the worst that I can ever remember. I think with everything that’s going on, in the dressing room, you have to say it will take some cataclysmic effort for Arsenal to turn it round. It seems like something is coming to an end,” he added.
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