Arsène Wenger has expressed his displeasure at Arjen Robben's antics after Arsenal could only draw 1-1 in Munich last night. The Gunners went down 3-1 on aggregate, their fourth last 16 exit on the trot.
Robben has earlier taken a blatant dive inside the penalty area despite not being touched by Santi Cazorla (gif below), but he was awarded a spot kick in stoppage time, with the tie beyond Arsenal.
"This situation can be analysed in both ways. If you look again where the ball goes after the control you'll see that he never has a goal chance because the ball was at the feet of Sagna so it was never, ever a goalscoring opportunity".
Szczesny saw red and the resulting penalty was missed, as was last night's injury time effort after Fabianski made a double save.
Asked if he thought Robben's antics made him less of a talent, Wenger replied: "He is a fantastic player, I would not deny that he's one of the best players in the world.
"He gets in front of a player then he slows down and goes down, and he gets the free kicks. If the referee gives him a yellow card the first time after he goes down, he will not do it again."
"What made the difference was the decision to send our goalkeeper off in the first game," Wenger said. "That decision had a huge impact. It was on the same player who got the penalty again tonight and that's a regret. Robben is very good at getting the maximum of nothing. He's a great player as well a very good diver but it's part of him."
In response to Wenger's charge, Robben made no apology and hit out at Wenger's complaints. He said: "I always say if you are a big manager, then take your loss ... if you win, be happy, enjoy but, if you lose, don't complain about silly things. It was two penalties. From a big manager you expect a little bit more."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly3KxWr-s0g
