April 18, (THEWILL) – Mikel Arteta could not hide his disappointment after his Arsenal side were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League 1-0 by Bayern Munich in their quarter-final second leg. Joshua Kimmich’s bullet diving header was the difference after the sides had cancelled each other out at the Emirates, 2-2 in the first leg.
The Gunners, playing in Europe’s top competition for the first time in seven years, fell at the last eight hurdle, and to familiar foes, with Bayern beating them in the last 16 in 2013, 2014, and 2016. The German side are the north Londoners’ bogey team in the UCL, and they also dismantled Arsenal 5-1 in the group stages in 2015.
Now, after another defeat at the hands of the Rekordmeister, Arteta spoke of the “gutted” atmosphere in the visiting dressing room. “It’s a really gutted dressing room; very disappointed,” Arteta told TNT Sports. “I cannot find the right words to lift them; I wish I had them. We had to go through it. We tried against a team that had a lot of experience and through the tie the margins have been very small.”
Arteta acknowledged that his side had made a “big mistake” in defending the box, which proved costly against the experienced German champions. Despite the heartbreak, the Arsenal boss remained defiant, insisting that his team had been the better side over the two legs and had pushed Bayern all the way.
With the domestic title race still wide open, Arteta and his players must now turn their attention to their remaining six league fixtures, where they sit just two points behind leaders Manchester City. The Arsenal boss acknowledged that the road ahead would be a difficult one, but expressed confidence in his team’s ability to overcome the pain of their European exit and finish the season strongly.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
