Olivier Giroud has admitted the third Monaco goal ,conceded at the Emirates last month cost them their Champions League Dream.
The French Striker scored in Monte Carlo as the gunners won 2-0 ,but went out on away goals.Arsenal crashed out of the Last 16 in the Champions League for the 5th consecutive season.
Giroud told L’Equipe: a We are terribly disappointed, even if we gave everything and we feel we played the perfect match in the second leg
“We have in our heads the third goal we conceded at home in the first leg. That is the way it is.
“We have to bounce back, get our heads up and try and go all the way in the competitions we are still in.
“We tried to push until the end but Monaco held on and did not steal their qualification. I take my hat off to them. We defended better than in the first leg, we were more efficient, we improved our game and dominated possession.a
Fellow Frenchman Laurent Koscielny added: a I think that we did what we had to do tonight but, at the end, like every year, we have regrets from the first match where we did not play our game. There is disappointment a the qualification was decided in London.a
Fellow midfielder Aaron Ramsey admitted that getting knocked out at the hands of Monaco hurt more than previous defeats by Barcelona and Bayern Munich ,because the Ligue 1 side represented a better chance to go through
The Welsh midfielder was however optimistic about ending the Season on a high for the Gunners, with an FA Cup Semi-Final against Reading and an oppurtunity to finish 2nd in the Barclays Premier League .
The Midfielder told ITV after the match “We’ve always played Bayern Munich, Barcelona and teams like that, and no disrespect to Monaco, but we thought we’d have a real good opportunity of qualifying, but we gave ourselves a tough task to do from the first game.”
“We gave ourselves a tough task again but we came here and did a good job, and came really close,” he later told reporters.
Ramsey remains confident, however, that Arsenal can still finish the season on a positive note.
“We still have the FA Cup to go for. We’re in a good position in that. There are still going to be twists and turns in the season, so we just have to concentrate on our games and take advantage of the opportunities that are up for grabs
“Hopefully the other teams slip up. But we’re still on course for a successful season. We can still finish second. There’s only one point difference and we have nine games left. If we win all of our remaining games, I’m sure that we can achieve that.”