Mikel Arteta suffered his first defeat this year as Arsenal exited the Europa knockout stage thanks to a last-minute goal from Olympiakos.
Arsenal won the first leg of the tie 0-1Â but yesterday’s 1-2 defeat let Olympiakos sail through to the next round due to away goal advantage.
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Olympiakos took the lead 8 minutes into the second half with a goal from Pape Abou Cisse forcing the game into extra time.
Pierre-Emerick delivered the equalizing goal for the Gunners 113 minutes into play bu at last-minute goal from Youssef El-Arabi diminished Arsenal’s hopes of progressing in the Europa knockout stages.
“It hurts, big time,” Arteta said.
“We had a lot of hope in this competition. It was a great way for us to be able to go to Europe and it is a very beautiful competition to try to win.
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“I think we did a lot of positive things in the game. I think we created enough chances to win the game, but if you concede two set-pieces again in a tie like this, then you put yourself in big trouble.”
Olympiakos now progress to the round of 16 stage as Arsenal are now left to concentrate on rising to the top 4 in the Premier League logs in order to attain a Champions League spot.
