Milan, Nov 7 Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta expressed his criticism to the penalty calls 1-0 defeat away to Inter Milan in the Champions League and insisted on the dominance his side showed against one of the best teams in Europe.
Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty and an organised defensive display gave Inter a hard-fought victory over Arsenal, their first Champions League defeat of the season.
Merino was unfortunate to be penalised for a handball inside the area when the ball bounced up to him, and Calhanoglu converted from 12 yards. It was Merino’s final involvement of the evening, as he was replaced at the interval by Gabriel Jesus.
"I don’t understand the decision, it’s just a deflection, there is no danger at all, you cannot react because you are very close but ok, they decide that is a penalty. But then if that’s a penalty then the one on Mikel Merino when he punches him in the head has to be 1000% a penalty and these are the margins in this game and it’s very very difficult to accept," Arteta said in the post-match press conference.
"There’s nothing unfortunately that we can do, we are not going to be able to change it so, unfortunately, we have to accept it and move on.
Despite Arsenal having much of the first-half possession, the Italian side took the lead from the penalty spot just before half-time as Denzel Dumfries hit the crossbar in the second minute. Arsenal went in search of an equaliser but Inter dug deep defensively to see out the win. The result leaves Arsenal 12th in the Champions League table.
"The concern tonight is the result and obviously in both boxes at the end we didn’t do what we have to do. When we didn’t, then someone else didn’t and that’s it. For sure, this is the way that I want to see my team. All the big games that we have in Europe by far this was the best one that we played in the last few years," said Arteta.
"If we play the way we play, we‘ll have a big chance to win against Chelsea. That‘s the way we have to go. I told them that I’m proud of them. I haven‘t seen them play in Europe in the manner that we have today. We are disappointed because we didn’t get what we wanted out of the game, that’s for sure," he added.
Arsenal's Champions League campaign resumes at the end of the month away to high-flying Sporting Lisbon, but their Premier League matches away to Chelsea then at home to Nottingham Forest.
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