Arsene Wenger: 'They were by far the better team. We watched them play, and paid the price for it'

Published: 4 November, 2015
by STEVE BARNETT 

Champions League: Group F
BAYERN MUNICH 5, ARSENAL 1 

PER Mertesacker insists Arsenal’s chances of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League are “not over” despite their mauling in Munich last night (Wednesday).

The Gunners were outpaced and outclassed in Germany as Bayern Munich ran out 5-1 winners at the Allianz Arena. The result means reaching the last 16 of the competition is now out of Arsenal’s hands, but Mertesacker insists there’s still plenty of football to be played. 

“We have to win both our remaining games, and win by at least two goals when we play away at Olympiacos,” he said. “We’ve been through even more difficult periods, so it’s not over.

“It was difficult against Bayern, but we will learn from it, as always, and bounce back quickly. We need to put our negative energy away, and fight back in our next game on Sunday against Tottenham.” 

Arsenal’s problems began within the opening 10 minutes when Robert Lewandowski’s header gave the hosts the lead. Thomas Muller’s low effort and David Alaba’s fine 25-yard strike put the German champions 3-0 up at half-time to all but end the game as a contest. 

Arjen Robben scored just seconds after coming on as a substitute to make it 4-0 as Bayern ran riot. Arsenal at least looked like ending the night on a high, however, when they got one back with 20 minutes remaining through Olivier Giroud’s superb finish. But even that joy was quickly muted by Munich as Muller added a fifth late on. 

The result leaves the Gunners third in Group F, six points behind Bayern and Olympiacos with just two games to play. It means Arsene Wenger’s side will not only have to win their remaining games, but also hope that Bayern do them a favour by beating Olympiacos in the next game week. 

Wenger admitted afterwards that the 5-1 drubbing was “painful to watch”.

“They were by far the better team. We watched them play, and paid the price for it,” he said. “It will be very tight to qualify now, but we have to keep fighting. We have to give everything, and realise that what we did tonight against Bayern wasn’t good enough to qualify anyway.” 

ARSENAL: Cech, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla (Chambers, 87), Campbell (Gibbs, 59), Ozil, Sanchez, Giroud (Iwobi, 85).
Substitutes not used: Koscielny, Flamini, Macey, Reine. Adelaide.