Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revealed the match officials didn’t delve too deeply into their explanation for denying Bukayo Saka a late penalty in a dramatic end to their match with Bayern Munich.
The Champions League quarter-final first leg ended 2-2 after Leandro Trossard equaliser late for the Gunners.
Saka had given Arsenal the lead in the first half, but Serge Gnabry brought Bayern level just minutes later.
And former Tottenham star Harry Kane continued his impressive goalscoring record against Arsenal with a well-executed penalty after Leroy Sane was brought down.
Mikel Arteta was furious at the decision not to give Arsenal a late penalty
GETTY
Trossard’s equaliser with 15 minutes remaining of the match gave Arsenal all the momentum heading into the final stages and Saka broke through Bayern’s defence and raced through on goal.
He then collided with Neuer with the home crowd shouting for a penalty to be awarded, but the referee waved away the protests.
Saka was incensed and was seen chasing after the official down the tunnel and was blanked.
Arteta was also furious on the touchlines and stormed onto the pitch at full time to seek answers.
But it doesn’t appear as though the Spaniard got what he was hoping for when he confronted the referee.
When asked what the officials said to him, Arteta said: “Nothing.
“They didn’t say anything.
“They said they checked it and decided it wasn’t a penalty.”
Arsenal legend Martin Keown couldn’t understand why the penalty wasn’t given when reviewing the incident on TNT Sports.
Bukayo Saka went down after colliding with Manuel Neuer in the box
GETTY
“If you had ten top refs here tonight, nine of them would’ve given it,” Keown said.
“This referee would be the only one to not give it. I find it quite alarming.”
Rio Ferdinand agreed, adding: “Manuel Neuer leaves his leg out. It has to be a penalty.
“They (VAR) had to send him (the referee) to look at it. It’s such a big decision in a game like this. There is so much riding on it.”
LATEST SPORT NEWS:
Mikel Arteta was animated on the touchline
GETTY
Arteta warned his players that they won’t be able to make the same mistakes again when they travel to Germany for the second leg if they want to make it to the semi-finals.
He added: “The game had different moments. We started really well, we were dominant, didn’t concede anything. We scored a really good goal and after that is the moment of the game when Ben [White] is in front of [Manuel] Neuer and if it was 2-0 it would have been a very different game.
“They scored and it created some uncertainty, the second goal was unusual for us to concede but it is the Champions League, you make a mistake and get punished.
“We allowed them the spaces to run and they were very dangerous but even at 2-1 we tried to make a rhythm, we were composed and didn’t try to rush things and the changes had an impact on the game.”
Post comments (0)