Extremely disappointed with his side’s defeat against Barcelona in the Champions League tie, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has slammed his boys, describing them as ‘naive’.
Earlier, star Striker Lionel Messi scored twice in the last 20 minutes to help Barcelona sank Wenger’s side 2-0 in the first leg of the last-16 at Emirates Stadium.
Reflecting on his side’s performance, Wenger said that they had number of chances to score but failed to do so because of conducting too many mistakes.
“Similar to Monaco (in last season’s last 16), when it looked like we could win this game we gave it away. That (second goal) makes it realistically very difficult, if not impossible (to come back), Wenger was quoted as saying by goal.com.
The 66-year-old, however, said that his players should not be blamed and instead need to be respected for putting in efforts.
Admitting that Barcelona were ‘lethal’, the Frenchman insisted that Arsenal failed to face their attacks.
“One thing we couldn’t afford to give them was counter attacks because they are very dangerous. That’s exactly what we did. We pushed too far in their half and got caught. That’s down to their quality as well,” Wenger added.
The two sides will now play in the second leg of the last-16 tie on March 17.
