Arsenal bowed out of the Champions League last night with a brave performance that proved their doubters absolutely right.
Media naysayers had claimed Barcelona’s 2-0 first-leg lead was insurmountable, and that Arsenal would deliver a bold but ultimately futile performance, a prediction that turned out to be significantly more accurate than Danny Welbeck’s shooting.
“Many people thought we were going to go out limply by only turning it on when the tie was lost,” said manager Arsene Wenger. “Full credit to those people, because they know exactly what they’re talking about.
“When all seems lost, that’s when we stand up to be counted, and show everyone we probably shouldn’t have bothered,” Wenger continued. “You can never write us off, unless it’s in the second leg of a last-16 Champions League tie. Then you’d be a fool not to write us off, because that’s when we fold like a papier-maché soufflé.”
Eat this
Arsenal captain Laurent Koscielny declared he was proud that his team’s performance forced the massed ranks of north London optimists to eat their words.
It was great to concede those three goals and shove those words back down our fans’ throats
“A vocal minority thought that we could actually deliver when it really mattered,” Koscielny said. “That really fired us up, and made us determined to prove them wrong. It was great to concede those three goals and shove those words back down our fans’ throats.”
Koscielny added that to underline their credentials as the team nobody wants to face when nothing is on the line, he and his team-mates would do everything in their power to fall just short in the title race, before further vindicating their critics with a glorious victory in the Emirates Cup.
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