Arsenal bow out of Champions League despite second-leg victory over Monaco
Arsenal exited the Champions League on Tuesday despite winning their Champions League last-16, second-leg clash 2-0 in Monaco, losing on the away goals rule after the tie finished 3-3 on aggregate.
A first-half goal by Olivier Giroud and then Aaron Ramsey 11 minutes from time gave the Gunners hope but desperate defending by Monaco saw them hold on to reach the quarter-finals in front of a for-once packed stadium which included celebrities such as U2 frontman Bono.
It’s not a question of if we deserved to go through but of being realistic and we made too many errors in the first leg
The other game went right down to the wire but saw last season’s finalists, Atletico Madrid, scrape through 3-2 on penalties over German side Bayer Leverkusen – Stefan Kiessling missing the penalty to settle the encounter.
The match had finished 1-1 on aggregate after Mario Suarez’s deflected first-half effort sufficed to give them a 1-0 win in the game itself.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was gracious in defeat which ended for another season his ambition of winning the piece of silverware he most desires.