on the all-important decision to rule out Thierry
Henry's late 'goal'
"I felt it was a goal. The referee has not seen anything. We
have to accept sometimes the referees give goals because they do
not see things. Tonight we have a new thing - that they cancel
goals because they saw things that did not exist. So that is a new
problem they have raised."
on Thierry Henry's reaction
"I knew from the reaction of Thierry. I did not see better
than the referee. Thierry said: 'I swear I did not touch the
ball at all with my hand'. It was his stomach. It was a very
bad decision, and we suffered from it."
on CSKA Moscow
"Congratulations to Moscow, they played very well. They
defended very well and tried to catch us on the break and on set
pieces. We fought hard but they defended in an intelligent way.
Sometimes I felt they had an advantage when they tried to catch us
on one or two occasions without being punished."
on the nature of the game
"Until they went 1-0 ahead, Moscow were sharper than us,
winning more fights than us and finally got the advantage they
deserved at that point of the game. We tried to attack after that,
and they defended in an intelligent way. They got a bit of luck
with the goal which was cancelled, but overall they have shown
great quality. We lost the ball because we were running after the
game, and then we gave away chances."
on the free-kick for their goal
"It was very surprising to me. He let the play go for a long
time and then he gave the free-kick. The minimum you can say is
that the really important decisions in the game went against us and
luckily for them."
on the pitch
"It was an intense game. We battled hard to come back, but as
well the quality of the pitch was a handicap. It was an October
pitch. UEFA has to look into that because it is not acceptable that
you play on pitches like that in the Champions League. They are a
good intelligent side and they deserve a better pitch. It could
make them better."
on the return leg at Emirates Stadium
"We knew Moscow were a good team before the game. They are
difficult to beat, but I still think we can do that and can show
what we can do in the second game."
