HIGHLIGHT – Arsene Wenger
Arsene Wenger told his players he is leaving Arsenal before their humiliating defeat to Bayern Munich last night according to the UK Express.
Strong rumours have it that Arsene Wenger has decided to leave Arsenal as pressure mounts on the faltering squad.
Arsenal again lost 5-1 to Bayern Munich this time at the Emirates to crash out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage for the seventh successive season.
Arsene Wenger chose to blame the referee for his side’s Euro exit – despite the tie finishing 10-2 on aggregate.
Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri is the bookies’ favourite to replace Wenger as Arsenal manager should he leave when his contract expires at the end of the season.
And according to Italian news outlet SNAI, Wenger told the Arsenal dressing room he was leaving before the defeat to Bayern.
Italian journalist Tancredi Palmeri broke the news on Twitter yesterday, posting: “BOOM! ARSENE WENGER TOLD TO HIS PLAYERS THAT HE WILL LEAVE ARSENAL! Here details of when and how the talk happened.”
It is claimed Wenger has announced his decision to leave Arsenal to his players but not yet the club.
Alexis Sanchez had a bust-up at training last week, leading Wenger to drop him from the Arsenal side that lost 3-1 at Liverpool on Saturday. Sanchez was back in the team last night against Bayern, but caused controversy by appearing to laugh on the bench after coming off.
Wenger denied the story about Sanchez’s bust-up but club legend Robert Pires confirmed it happened because of a heavy tackle in training.
Arsenal face Lincoln next in the FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday and Wenger knows he is under mounting pressure.
“I have to take on chin,” he said. “I have to stand up for it. I will take a lot of criticism.
“We were really unlucky. Some of the referee’s decision were difficult to understand. It was scandalous, and revolted me.
“It is difficult to take, and of course it looks very bad, but does not reflect the quality of our play.”
