Football
ESPN staff 9y

'Agony' for Arsenal in Monaco as 'killer' away goals cost Wenger - media

Arsenal were praised by British newspapers for exiting the Champions League on away goals to Monaco with "all guns blazing," but criticised for allowing the tie to slip away in the first leg.

The Gunners headed to Stade Louis II on Tuesday evening trying to overturn a 3-1 first-leg deficit, but goals from Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey were not enough as Arsene Wenger's men exited the round of 16 on away goals.

The Daily Mail's Martin Samuel wrote that while Arsenal's display was "pragmatic and impressive," ultimately "that third away goal at the Emirates Stadium was the killer. It was the one Wenger's players could not match."

Telegraph Sport's headline read "Arsenal agony," with writer Jason Burt suggesting that Giroud's misses over the two legs cost the Gunners.

He wrote: "After Ramsey's goal Arsenal needed just one more. The opportunity fell to Giroud. He could not, quite, take it, even if he did well to hit the target. Good, but not good enough. It summed up Arsenal."

The Sun's Mark Irwin concentrated on Mesut Ozil -- who faced criticism for swapping shirts with Geoffrey Kondogbia at half-time -- failing to make a telling impact at Stade Louis II, writing: "Ozil wasn't terrible by any means. He was just average when Arsenal needed extraordinary."

Guardian Sport's headline read "Arsenal fight but fall agonisingly short," with writer David Hynter reflecting on the Gunners "continuing to find ever more outlandish ways to embellish an extremely well-worn theme."

The French media clearly suffered just as much as Monaco did as the Ligue 1 side came perilously to an inglorious exit.

Under the front-page headline "Banco," L'Equipe noted with relief how Leonardo Jardim's men, who had seemingly been assured of reaching the last eight following their first-leg win, were "Shaken, dominated, beaten but QUALIFIED" after a nail-biting 2-0 second-leg defeat.

"The explosion of joy at the Stade Louis II at the final whistle, when the home players had not been able to make a pass properly for quite a while, showed how hard the evening had been," L'Equipe's Regis Testelin noted in his match report under the headline "Unbearable but amazing."

Le Parisien talked of how Monaco "suffered for 90 minutes," but added that "they only have themselves to blame" as they stopped playing after "a promising start."

football365.fr claimed events at the Stade Louis II had constituted 'a little miracle' which had occurred due to Monaco's sole ambition in the game, "Hold on, hold on, hold on."

ESPN FC correspondent Ian Holyman contributed to this report.

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