Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was almost in tears before the full-time whistle as his late miss proved costly as Arsenal are knocked out of the Europa League by Olympiakos, MySportDab reports.
Aubameyang has admitted that he felt “very, very bad” for his late miss at the end which saw Arsenal waste their last chance of securing a spot in the next round.
Arsenal’s hope of reaching the Champions League next season are now uncertain as Olympiakos scored an 119th-minute winner at the dump them out.
Arsenal started the second leg with 1-0 lead from the first leg in Athens last week but Cisse’s header for Olympiakos shortly after half-time forced the game into extra time.
The Gunners finally scored after 113 minutes through Aubameyang’s fantastic overhead kick, which marked his 20th goal of the season in all competitions.
But Youssef El-Arabi restored Olympiakos’ lead in the final minutes of extra time, taking advantage of more poor defending from Arsenal to score from Giorgos Masouras’ cross.
Aubameyang had another chance to put the north London club back in control deep into extra-time after the ball bobbled to him inside the area but he only fired wide as Arsenal’s 11-match unbeaten run in 2020 came to a miserable end.
— Trequartista (@MedionovulaTQ) MySportDab understands The Gabon international was close to tears after the miss having gone down and held his face in his hands.
“Very disappointed,” Aubameyang said in post-match.
“What should I say? It was very, very hard, very tough.
“It was a tough match again and I think we missed some pace in the game. That cost us everything today. The last-minute goal was very sad for us. Yeah, that’s it.
“I think it was a tough game because they played very deep and it was hard to find chances in the final third.
“As I said, it was a very tough game and tough to find spaces to score.”
Arsenal’s dream of qualifying for next season’s Champions League now rests in the Premier League.
With 11 league matches remaining this season, Arsenal are being fourth-placed Chelsea by seven points.
But Tottenham, Manchester United, Wolves and Sheffield Unitex are all in the race for the top four, also ahead of Arsenal who have struggled for consistency this season.
