After suffering an exit from the Champions League, the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that it is a wake-up call for all the British clubs looking to progress into the latter stages of the competition. Arsenal almost managed to complete the impossible by securing a 2-0 win at the Allianz Arena. This was the first defeat suffered by Bayern Munich for more than three months. Arsenal could have progressed to the next round had they found another goal, but time eventually ran out for the Premier league club. Oliver Giroud and Laurent Koscielny scored for Arsenal on the night.
This will be the first time since 1996 that there will not be a representative from England in the quarter-final stage of the Champions League. Chelsea and Manchester City were knocked out in the group stages itself, while the last 16 stage saw the exit of both Manchester United and Arsenal. Wenger has said that this exit signifies the fact that the rest of Europe has caught up with the Premier league, and the league now has to take into consideration about this factor before making crucial decisions. The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has always criticised the Premier league for not giving importance to teams playing in Europe.
“It’s a massive disappointment for English football because for many years we have not been used to this. It’s a massive wake-up call for us and it means that the rest of European football has caught up with us. We have to take that into consideration when we talk about the Premier League in the future. To qualify is 180 minutes. It’s a bit similar to last year’s situation against Milan, when we missed the first leg and lost 4-0,” said Wenger. This defeat ends any hope of Arsenal getting past the trophy drought.
