Didi: Arsenal outclassed

Didi Hamann has dismissed Arsene Wenger’s suggestion that Wojciech Szczesny’s red card in the first leg was the decisive moment in Arsenal’s 3-1 aggregate Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.

“I don’t know where he gets that from,” says the player who first came to prominence with the Bavarian giants. “If he thinks the sending off had any impact on the outcome of the two legs, he must have watched different games. They outclassed them. Arsenal had 12% possession in the second half at the Emirates. It was embarrassing. Sometimes it can be harder playing against 10 men but Bayern Munich used the man advantage and just absolutely annihilated them in the second half.

“12% possession? If you turn it around the other way, if Bayern Munich had a player sent off, do you think Arsenal would have had 90% possession? Don’t think so. No, Bayern are in a different class. Full stop. English teams are way behind what’s required to win the Champions League. I think that was obvious.”