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ARSENAL: Champions League: Ljungberg - European exit is hard to take

/noticias.info/ By Richard Clarke

Disappointment was etched on the face of Freddie Ljungberg as he tried to explain Arsenal’s exit from “the big one” on Wednesday night.

The Swedish midfielder felt his side deserved to win the Champions League last season so bowing out to PSV in the Knockout Round this term was a body blow.

Arsenal seemed likely to go through when Alex put through his own net at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday to bring Arsène Wenger’s side level in the tie. But seven minutes from time, the PSV defender made up for error by powering home a near-post header.

"I'm just very disappointed,” said Ljungberg afterwards. "All credit to PSV. They are a good side but we should still have won the game and gone through. We had some chances that we should have scored and some half-chances too.

“We had opportunities to kill off the game and had them on the brink of defeat. But we didn't and eased off a bit. When they equalised with five minutes to go, it killed the rest of the game.

“As against Reading [last Saturday], we made a mistake and they scored. Again it was a bit nervy. We gave away a free-kick which they scored from.

“You need to be disciplined. The game was for 90 minutes, we had to concentrate for 90 minutes and we didn't so we were knocked out, which is very hard to deal with at the moment.

"The Champions League was the big one for us. Last year we thought we deserved to win it so this year we thought we could have a good crack at winning it. We definitely didn't do that.

"It is going to be tough for the next couple of days, dealing with the disappointment. But we then have to start focusing again because we need to have a Champions League spot [next season] and that's where we go now.

"It shows there are always small margins. It's good that there is a wait before the next game because right now we are all a bit down and very disappointed.” notas_de_prensa_archivo