Arsene Wenger faced the media after Arsenal were knocked out of the Champions League on away goals by Monaco. You can read a full transcript of his press conference below:
on the exit…
I felt the performance was enough tonight, but it was a very difficult task. At half-time, the game could have been over with the chances we created, overall we pay that in the first game we did not produce the performance we wanted. Monaco played at home, have zero shots on target and yet go to the quarter-final.
on Arsenal’s Champions League record…
It is difficult to compare the years, because the season before, we played against Barcelona and Munich. We are very disappointed to have gone out tonight, but overall we are on a positive trend. This game was online with what we did recently.
on not letting the season slip…
It is very, very important because we want to win the next game. If you look at the numbers, we had a 98% chance to be out, but we did fight and produce the game we wanted. I felt that some players were a bit jaded offensively because we have given a lot on Saturday and in the second half lacked a bit of freshness to finish the game off.
on whether this is the most disappointing exit…
Yes, I would take it separately from the other years. I am very disappointed to go out tonight of course, but there are lots of positive in the game. The overall situation is disappointing. If you just look at the game tonight, it is positive for us. I am realistic enough to know every season is different. Judge our season at the end of the season. Tonight I don’t believe we had a disappointing performance, it was a positive performance and you can take that into the end of the season.
on the referee…
I felt the referee had a very poor first half personally. I just told him that I was not happy with some decisions.
on chances…
If you take a look at the shots on target in the two games, they were well rewarded, and were very clinical. We are disappointed because out of the competition, but we wish them the best of luck. They really surprised us in the first leg when we were too sure of ourselves on the night.
on the first leg…
We had a good game tonight, but no luck. Congratulations to them, but we are having quite a positive series going on. People over analysed the match in a positive way, because if you look at the starts again they did not dominate the game, but played really well on the counter and were not cautious enough. After the first goal we were not patient enough. Football is not a fairytale, it is a matter of being realistic and being clinical, maybe a bit lucky as well, maybe that is part of the game. If you go out after the group stages, you have no chances after to play again (at this level), like you do in the Europa League.
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