Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, has admitted it will be “extremely difficult” to qualify for the Champions League last eight, after they were beaten 3-1 by Monaco in the first leg of their knockout tie.
Geoffrey Kondogbia and Dimitar Berbatov gave the visitors a two-goal advantage. Substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled one back for the Gunners, but they conceded a third with the last kick of the game.
“The third goal makes our task extremely difficult in the second leg,” Wenger said. “It looks like we lost our nerve and our rationality on the pitch. The heart took over the head and that doesn’t work. Mentally we were not sharp enough to get into the game, and we paid for it.
“In the first 20 minutes we could have won the game, but Monaco are strong physically. We missed our chances – look at the number we missed tonight. At that level we cannot afford to do that.”
Olivier Giroud missed a few chances to score for Arsenal on tht night and Wenger admitted his players were perhaps a bit complacent against the Ligue 1 team.
He said: “I hope my players were not complacent, but it looks when you are lacking sharpness that anything is possible. Football is not on paper, it’s down to your performance. On the night Monaco produced a performance and we didn’t.
“Giroud had an off night tonight and he missed easy chances. It looked like it was not one of his best days.”
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