AARON Ramsey apologised to the fans after Arsenal endured a dour time in Dortmund in their opening Champions League game tonight (Tuesday). 

The Germans dominated the tie throughout, amassing a staggering 23 shots on target – thankfully only seven of which were on target. Arsenal, on the other hand, only hit the target once, with Danny Welbeck wasting what few chances came his way. 

Ramsey, who earned the Gunners a 1-0 win in Dortmund last season, tweeted, "That wasn't good enough tonight. Sorry to all the fans and thank you for your support." 

Manager Arsene Wenger echoed the disappointment as he summed up Arsenal's "very average performance". 

He said, "We were not at the requested level tonight and Dortmund deserved their win. 

"Their energy levels seemed higher, I think they had a much easier game on Saturday than what we had."

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan both squandered good chances to give Jurgen Klopp's red and yellows the lead in what was fast proving a one-sided encounter at Signal Iduna Park. 

But on the stroke of half time Dortmund got the goal their dominance deserved when Ciro Immobile was allowed to run from inside his own half before sliding the ball past Szczesny from 12-yards. 

Alexis Sanchez looks dejected in defeat

The hosts found themselves 2-0 up within three minutes of the second half when Aubameyang latched onto Kevin Grosskreutz's perfectly-weighted pass, stumbled round the keeper and guided the ball into the back of the net. 

Dortmund continued to push forward and should have added to their lead – with reckless finishing and Szczesny's fingertips all that stopped Arsenal from suffering the hammering that their display deserved. 

The only good news for Wenger was that the other game in their group between Galatasaray and Anderlecht finished 1-1, giving the Gunners every opportunity to still qualify for the knockout stages having arguably played their toughest fixture. 

Arsenal: Szczesny, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta (Podolski, 77), Wilshere, Ramsey (Cazorla, 62), Ozil (Oxlade-Chamberlain, 62), Sanchez, Welbeck. 

Subs not used: Ospina, Rosicky, Chambers, Campbell.