Arsene Wenger was accused of disrespecting Monaco after his former club completed what is Arsenal’s fifth consecutive Champions League defeat at the first knockout stage of the tournament.
Wenger did not shake the hand of Leonardo Jardim, the Monaco manager, following the 3-1 first leg defeat at The Emirates Stadium and no handshake was offered in return on Tuesday night after Arsenal were knocked out on the away goals rule, despite winning 2-0 on the night.
Asked about Wenger not shaking his hand after the first leg, Jardim said: “I think it was disrespectful. Right now we’re celebrating and we think Arsenal did not show enough respect during the first leg.
Wenger and Leonardo Jardim shook hands at the start... but not the end (Action Images)
“In the first leg when I wanted to thank Arsene and shake his hand it’s true that Arsene didn’t shake my hand. So, even though Monaco did everything to make life comfortable for Arsenal, I decided not to thank him.
“Arsenal were really happy to play Monaco as we were supposed to be one of the weakest teams. We qualified from pot four. Arsenal thought they had qualified already. I think we deserved it.”
Wenger has refused to shake the hand of various Premier League managers during his career and he also confronted referee Svein Oddvar Moen at half-time of Tuesday’s game. The main controversy was when Alexis Sanchez appeared to have been fouled inside the penalty area by Nabil Dirar, but was instead booked.
“I felt the referee had a very poor first half personally - I just told him that I was not happy with some decisions,” said Wenger. “Football is not a fairytale, it is a matter of being realistic and being clinical, maybe a bit lucky as well.”
The nature of Arsenal’s exit was especially reminiscent of their defeats both to AC Milan and Bayern Munich in recent seasons but, given the opposition and circumstances, Wenger agreed that this was the most disappointing.
“Yes, but I would take it separately from the other years,” he said. “There are lots of positives in the game but the overall situation is disappointing. Every season is different. Judge our season at the end of the season. It was a positive performance and you can take that into the end of the season.”
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Wenger ultimately accepted that Arsenal had suffered for their defensive naivety in the first leg when they were punished on the counter-attack, despite dominating possession.
“Overall we pay that in the first game we did not produce the performance we wanted,” he said. “They really surprised us in the first leg when we were too sure of ourselves on the night. I felt the performance was enough in the second leg but it was a very difficult task. At half-time, the game could have been over with the chances we created. Monaco played at home, have zero shots on target and yet go to the quarter-final. If you look at the numbers, we had a 98 per cent chance to be out, but we did fight and produce the game we wanted.”
There was also half-time criticism for Mesut Ozil from former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes after he agreed to a request from Monaco midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia to exchange shirts. “I don’t like it - at the end of the game maybe,” said Scholes.
Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker admitted that Arsenal had deserved to lose. “The best team went through,” said Mertesacker. “They played much better in the first leg. We had to come back from a massive deficit.
“We could have scored more and if we continue to play like that I think then we have a great chance in the FA Cup and the league. When you have one bad game in the Champions League that's the beauty of the game, you're out, even against a team that was underestimated.”
Aaron Ramsey added: “We have always played Bayern Munich, Barcelona, teams like that and no disrespect to Monaco but we thought we had a really good opportunity of qualifying.”
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