'Thrashing harsh on Arsenal' - Bayern boss Ancelotti sympathises with Wenger

Dom Farrell

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'Thrashing harsh on Arsenal' - Bayern boss Ancelotti sympathises with Wenger image

Carlo Ancelotti felt Bayern Munich's second 5-1 thumping of Arsenal was not a fair reflection of the Premier League side's efforts at Emirates Stadium.

Bayern repeated the scoreline from last month's first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie at Allianz Arena, despite Theo Walcott giving the hosts a deserved half-time lead on the night.

Wenger 'revolted' by refereeing display

Laurent Koscielny's red card for a foul on Robert Lewandowski – the striker converted the resulting penalty – changed the complexion of the game and Bayern ran riot thereafter.

Arjen Robben and substitute Douglas Costa got on the scoresheet before a late brace from Arturo Vidal added further fuel to the protests outside the ground before kick-off calling for Wenger to stand down.

Even though the long-serving manager is no longer flavour of the month in north London, Ancelotti felt Wenger's side performed creditably before Koscielny was dismissed.

Bayern Munich celebrate v Arsenal

"It was not a crazy game, more difficult. Until the penalty the game was really difficult," he told a post-match news conference.

"Arsenal played really well for 50 minutes, putting a lot of pressure in the game.

"We had difficulty defensively and also with the ball. We did mistakes that we are not used to doing.

Robben wants more from Bayern

"This result doesn't really respect what happened on the pitch because Arsenal played a really good game.

"With 10 men it was really difficult. For us, the penalty took out all the pressure that we had.

"We started to play with one more man and we scored a lot of goals but, honestly, the result does not respect what happened."

Ancelotti won the Champions League twice with AC Milan before leading Real Madrid to 'La Decima' – their 10th European title – in 2014.

Asked whether the prospect of becoming the first manager to win the trophy with three different clubs was a motivating factor for him, he added: "Honestly, my motivation is to help this team to be at the top, to stay at the top in Europe. This is the only goal that I have.

"I try to do my best to help the team, to help the players, to give joy to our fans."

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.