Arsene Wenger has admitted that tonight’s 2-0 first-leg defeat to Barcelona gives Arsenal only a 5% chance of progressing in the Champions League.
Speaking after going down to Lionel Messi and company at the Emirates, Wenger put the tie 95% in favour of Barca ahead of March’s reverse fixture.
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Mathieu Flamini’s late concession of a penalty, 45 seconds after his introduction as a substitute, seems to have put the tie beyond the Londoners.
Arsenal have been knocked out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage in each of the last five seasons, and have lost the first leg by a two-goal deficit on four of those occasions.
Wenger might have considered sacrificing the second leg at the Camp Nou, which comes only a few days before a crucial Premier League game at Everton.
But the Frenchman’s insistence in the above video that the Gunners will “give it a go” is a signal that he is not ready to prioritise their title hopes yet.
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