Arsène Wenger was so distraught at the finality of Arsenal’s Champions League exit that he wondered whether it might have been better for the club to have dropped down into the Europa League and remained alive in European competition.
The manager offered the bleak and introspective comments in the wake of the last-16 second leg at Monaco, which Arsenal won 2-0 only to exit on away goals. It was the fifth season in succession that Wenger’s team had exited at this stage and, once again, the closing months of their season will be free of European football.
“Maybe it would be better not to advance from the group phase and play the Europa League than be eliminated right away in the last 16,” Wenger said. “We would have more chances to win a title.”
Wenger went on to say that if a club went “out after the group stages, you have no chances after to play again, like you do in the Europa League”.
If Arsenal had finished third, rather than second, in their Champions League group, they would have entered the Europa League and, possibly, fancied themselves to progress in the competition.
Wenger would never want to finish third instead of second in a Champions League group and here was evidence not only of his post-defeat angst but his habit of seeking a target for the frustration in such circumstances.
In the heat of the moment, he found himself alighting upon an unusual one – the second chance that defeated teams in Champions League groups are afforded. Wenger seemed to suggest that it was an unfair quirk that sides who finish third have the opportunity to prolong their European seasons, while teams like his own are finished when they lose.