Press conference

'I’m like the team, very sad and disappointed'

Arsene Wenger admitted he was "sad and disappointed" after we were knocked out of the Europa League by Atletico Madrid on Thursday night.

The 2-1 aggregate defeat means there will be no fairytale exit for the manager, and this is what he told the media after the game:

 

on the game…

I think it was a very intense game between two teams who gave absolutely everything. I would say the team who won tonight is Atletico Madrid. Congratulations to them and good luck in the final. I would say that the winner of tonight’s game is the clear favourite to win the competition.

 

on whether he felt the players offered enough...

We missed something in the final third because we had plenty of opportunities. if you look at the number of chances we created over the two games, the least you can say is that we can be very frustrated. In the first game, the tie should be over and in the second game, in the first half, we had plenty of opportunities but we always missed something in the final ball. They are a team who defends well. I believe as well we re a bit unlucky a few times because I think Gabi is happy to stay on the pitch, they broke up a few counter attacks voluntarily and it took the referee a while to give a yellow to Gabi and they were in situations where we could have been very dangerous., But overall they are a clever side who defends very well. Godin tonight saved five or six balls on crosses in amazing positions, great defenders.

 

on his emotions…

I’m like the team, very sad and very disappointed. Overall I’m even very frustrated as well. When you go out of a competition and give the performances we did over 180 minutes, it’s very difficult to take. Now for the club, they’ve got some time to think a out what to do for next season. I think there are some good ingredients in our team and they will bounce back. These players have quality and with the right additions in the summer, they have the ingredients to compete next year.

 

on Martin Keown's comments on Mesut Ozil's performance...

I don't agree with that, you will see that when you analyse his physical performance that he gave  a lot tonight. It was a difficult game, physically very intense and I am convinced that Ozil should not be now victimised by anyone because we did not score. We had plenty of opportunities in the two games and we lose as a team. I don't agree with that coming out now straight away. When you want to be listened to now, you always have to be extreme.

But football is more complicated and complex than that.

 

on whether he sees himself coaching in La Liga…


I have to recover first from that huge disappointment tonight. I’m very, very sad to leave the club with this exit. I will take some time to recover from that and then after I will see what I will do with myself in the future. I have no plans at the moment.

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