Bayern Munich romped into the Champions League next round

Having lost the first leg of their Uefa Champions League last 16 clash with Bayern Munich 5-1 last month, Arsene Wenger said that salvaging professional pride, rather than the tie, was Arsenal’s goal in the return fixture on Tuesday night.

But any hopes Wenger’s recent problems would be erased in historic fashion were brutally dashed by Robert Lewandowski’s second half penalty and Laurent Koscielny’s dismissal for conceding that spot-kick.

“It was a shame that we played our worst game in three years in that match”, he said of the first-leg humiliation.

“People are talking about his age and they want a new manager to bring fresh air but it’s very hard to replace intelligence”.

“Until the penalty it was a hard game and Arsenal played very well”, he said. On top of that he gives us a red card that killed us completely. “Overall I must say that Bayern are a good side, but they can also say thank you to the decisions of the referee in the second half”. You’ve got the fans, the protests. Even a win over Bayern will not reduce questions over Wenger’s future, though Arsenal are outside top four following a 3-1 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield and like again, their realistic hopes of winning a silverware lies in the FA Cup.

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Wenger said that Xabi Alonso’s first-half challenge on Theo Walcott was “100% a penalty”, before claiming that Lewandowski was offside ahead of Koscielny’s foul. “It leaves me very angry, very frustrated …”

“We were in an impossible situation at 1-1 with 10 men, to have to score four goals against a team with their quality”.

‘You never know how Bayern would have reacted had we scored a second goal and at the end it finishes like that, it’s hard to take.

Arsene Wenger does not deserve his Arsenal reign to end on last night’s disappointing Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich, according to Jens Lehmann.

“The final 20 minutes was hard”.

“We don’t take into consideration the advantage we have, it is important but the most important thing is to play well for 90 minutes”.

Knocking Arsenal out of the Champions League, again, is sweet.

Wenger, 67, revolutionised Arsenal after arriving in England as a virtual unknown from Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eight in September 1996.