End of the Roud for Gunners

Posted Thursday, March 14, 2013 by The Sun

Wenger's boys almost pull off upset

AGUNY ... The Gunners were close to pulling off an amazing upset

ARSENE WENGER spoke of his pride after Arsenal bowed out of the Champions League.

The Gunners boss saw his side agonisingly fail to pull off a Munich miracle as they won 2-0 last night but lost on away goals.

And their exit means England has no teams in the quarter-finals of Europe’s top club competition for the first time in 17 years.

Wenger said: “We went close and I’m very proud of the performance of the team but as well very disappointed for everyone who follows Arsenal.

“We have many regrets about the first game. The tie is over 180 minutes and in the first game we didn’t play well.”

Bayern stormed to a 3-1 win at the Emirates in the first leg of this last-16 tie.

But goals from Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny had the Bundesliga leaders clinging to victory on away goals last night.

Although Arsenal went down fighting, it was still the end of a dismal Champions League campaign for English clubs.

Holders Chelsea and Manchester City failed to get out of the group stage, while Manchester United and Arsenal lost in the last 16.

Wenger added: “It’s a massive disappointment for English football because for many years we are not used to that. It’s a massive wake-up call for us.

“The rest of European football has caught up with us and we have to take that into consideration about the way we think about the future.”

Arsenal’s trophy drought will now stretch to eight years.

Wenger admitted: “We were under pressure tonight.

“A bad performance tonight would have been terrible for the morale and the pride of the team.”