Wenger concedes Champions League exit after Arsenal lose to Bayern
Wednesday 20 February 2013
Arsene Wenger has admitted Arsenal are on the brink of exiting the Champions League after Bayern Munich recorded a 3-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday evening, the Daily Mirror has reported.
Goals from Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller and Mario Mandzukic mean the Bundesliga side have a commanding lead ahead of the second leg, with former Bayern forward Lukas Podolski scoring a consolation for the Gunners.
Bayern went two goals up through Kroos and Muller inside 20 minutes, the score staying that way until 10 minutes into the second-half when Podolski pulled a goal back. However, with less than 15 minutes of the match to play Mandzukic struck to restore Bayern’s two goal lead.
The result means Arsenal will need to score three times in the Allianz Arena in the return leg, and not concede. Bayern, the runway leaders of the German league, have conceded only six goals at home in the league all season.
Wenger after the match suggested Arsenal should consider giving up on the tie and focusing on finishing fourth in the Premier League. He said: “ Look, we'll have two battles. But maybe the easier battle will be to be back into the Champions League.
“We have to give everything to try to change things in the second leg. We have to try to make the impossible possible. Let's not hide the truth. It will be extremely difficult against a team of that quality. They didn't play two finals in the last three years without that quality.
“We have to give our best and hope we have built our confidence up a bit more, because that belief will be needed.”
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