Manuel Almunia says Arsenal were too tired to run against Barca

When Manuel Almunia entered Arsenal's failed attempt to hold off Barcelona on Tuesday, he put in a good performance despite allowing two goals and getting kicked in the head a few times. It seems the out of favor last man standing among Arsenal's goalkeepers didn't feel certain teammates helped him out much, though.

From the Guardian:

"Even at 3-1 we only needed one goal and you can't understand how there can be players that were walking," said Almunia who came on in the first half of the last-16 tie when Wojciech Szczesny dislocated his finger at the Camp Nou. "With a bit more effort we could have caused them damage at the end.

"Barcelona bossed us and in the second half we had players that were not running. It seemed that everything was lost but you can score a goal at any moment.

"So the only explanation I have is that we were so tired and the players couldn't give any more. And being down to 10 men, well, it was double the effort."

Accusing your teammates of not trying in a Champions League match against Barcelona is rarely a good idea, especially when everyone else at your club is thoroughly convinced that the blame for the loss exclusively belongs to the referee. If only Arsenal had just one other healthy goalkeeper right now, Almunia would surely suffer some kind of consequences for that kind of internal blame.

Photo: AP