The Gunners boss said the German side "made more of every single
contact" and accepted Mesut Ozil lost confidence after missing a penalty
Arsene Wenger accused Bayern Munich of ‘diving all game’ on a disastrous
night for Arsenal.
Goals from Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller
put Pep Guardiola’s men firmly in charge ahead of the
March 11 return.
But Wenger hit out at the Germans after Wojciech Sczczesny was red carded
for bringing down Arjen Robben in the game-changing moment.
He fumed: “ Our keeper went genuinely for the
ball. He touched Robben and he certainly made more of it. I told him
afterwards.”
TV replays showed the Pole - in further trouble with UEFA for making an
obscene hand gesture - had collided with Robben’s standing leg.
His dismissal was one of three hammer blows for Wenger on the night as he
also saw Mesut Ozil’s early penalty saved and Muller make the tie
near-impossible to recover with his late goal after Arsenal had hung on gamely
at 1-0.
But it was the red card that upset him most. He added: “Robben has enough
experience to know to make more of it. Overall I felt Bayern made more of every
single contact and we are not used to it in England.
“The fouls that were given are not given in the Premier League. but we have
to get used to it and to accept it.”
Does this moment actually worth a Red card? |
Guardiola hit back: “You could see on TV it was a penalty. The referee
decided penalty and he was the last man so it was a red card. The rules say red
card, it’s a penalty.”
The spat capped a night of high drama at the Emirates less than a week
after Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho accused Wenger of being a “specialist in
failure”.
Bayern’s penalty after Robben was brought
down was missed by left-back David Alaba, who hit the post. That gaffe had
come, however, after Ozil had missed from the spot just eight minutes in with
Arsenal on top. Wenger admitted afterwards that his £42.5million record summer signing is suffering from
a crisis of confidence.
He said: “He was affected by it. You are always concerned about the
confidence of your players because that is your petrol in the team - it is what
gives them the courage and desire to play.
“In our job you have to deal with that. I think he wanted to do so well
that it affected him. You could see even five or ten minutes later he was still
shaking his head. It had a huge impact on his performance.”
Ozil missed a penalty and looked out of sorts |
Ex-Chelsea and Bayern Munich star Michael Ballack went one further,
claiming Ozil looks lost in the Arsenal team. Ballack said: “Ozil did not look
confident - he walked to the ball slowly, so maybe there is someone who wants
it more, but there wasn’t.
“He has the ability to score from 12-yards, it’s not a big deal. But there
was just no confidence.
“He looks a bit lost in this team. He likes to have the ball. But sometimes
it looks like he is in a tactical position where he has to work a lot
defensively and I was watching one situation where Flamini was moaning to him.
“It seems like he does not have the acceptance of his team.”
In a further blow for Wenger, left-back Kieran Gibbs had to be taken off
injured after just half an hour.
TV pictures appeared to show Gibbs’ team-mate, Bacary Sagna, being spat at
by Robben. But Sagna later denied that was the case. He said afterwards: “I
don’t think so. Things went well between us tonight.”
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