Arsenal Manager, Arsene Wenger, felt his team restored their pride by beating AC Milan 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night as the Gunners bowed out of the Champions League.
Trailing 4-0 from what Wenger had labelled a “shocking performance” at the San Siro three weeks ago, it was always going to take something special to turn the tie around and progress to the quarter-finals.
However, for an hour or so during the second leg, it appeared the record books would be torn up as the Gunners reduced the deficit with first-half goals from Laurent Koscielny, the impressive Tomas Rosicky and Robin van Persie’s penalty.
However, the second-half onslaught never came as Milan – who had somehow managed to go out to Deportivo La Coruna in the 2003/04 quarter-finals having won 4-1 at home, losing the second leg in Spain 4-0 – regrouped and were not really troubled during the closing stages.
Arsenal had recorded morale-boosting victories over Tottenham and Liverpool in the build-up to this European tie, with another rousing performance just what Wenger had wanted, if missing the final fairytale ending.
He said: “We restored a good performance tonight and we are disappointed because we touched qualification.
“We had the chances and we didn’t do it, but we were very close.
“I felt that we suffered a bit in the second half physically because we gave a lot at Liverpool.
“When we tired in midfield we had no options on the bench and the regret I have is there.
“The players put in a faultless performance, with fantastic spirit and you can only congratulate the whole team.”
Wenger added: “If you win 3-0 at home, you can only say well done to the players.
“You know that if you play 180 minutes and you miss 90, it is difficult at that level. We were very close.”
Wenger was reported to have been involved in a confrontation with Slovakian referee, Damir Skomina, as they left the field.
Responding to a general question on the match officials in his post-match press conference, the Arsenal manager said: “I was not happy with the referee tonight because I felt he gave many free-kicks in the middle of the park.”