Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger not letting Champions League exit get him down

Arsene Wenger refused to let himself get down at Arsenal's exit from the Champions League after going out on away goals against Monaco at the last 16 stage.

Arsenal won 2-0 on the night at the Stade Louis II, but exited after losing the first leg 3-1 at the Emirates.

And Wenger, who insists Arsenal played exactly how they wanted in the second leg, only rued the first-leg performance.

He said: "We produced the performance we wanted and overall at half-time the game should have been over.

"We had five clear-cut chances and I think as well we were unlucky with some refereeing decisions in the first half especially.

"We produced the game we wanted. Monaco had no shots on target at all, we played in one half and they defended well until the end. It was a very tight game."

The Frenchman was left less than impressed by the performance of Norwegian referee Svein Oddvar Moen, who had shown a yellow card to Alexis Sanchez in the first half for that he saw as a dive in the penalty area.

Wenger, who remonstrated with the officials as they walked off for the interval, said: "I felt the referee had a very poor first half personally. I just told him that I was not happy with some decisions."

Despite Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker saying he believed the best side went through to the quarter final, Wenger did not agree, noting that Monaco had not registered a shot on target on Tuesday night.

"I don't let the disappointment talk too much, and I don't believe that [Monaco deserved to go through], if you look at the shots on target over the two legs I think the team who made less mistakes defensively went through.

"The players are on a good run. We won the game tonight, and we only pay tonight because our concentration levels were not good in the first game. 

"Now we must win the next game, that's all, it's as simple as that."