Arsene Wenger on Europa League Exit: 'I Am Very Sad and Very Disappointed'

Arsene Wenger admitted he was "very sad" after his dream of ending his Arsenal tenure with his first European trophy was ended by Atletico Madrid on Thursday. 

The Gunners were downed 1-0 at the Wanda Metropolitano in their UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg, with Diego Costa netting late in the first half to put Atleti through to the final against Olympique de Marseille with a 2-1 aggregate win.

The Europa League was Arsenal's final chance of securing UEFA Champions League football next season and Wenger's last opportunity to bow out of the club on a high after almost 22 years in charge.

After falling short, the Frenchman said it will take him some time to recover, per the Guardian's David Hytner:

"I am like the team—very sad and very disappointed. I am even very frustrated, as well, because when you go out of a competition and you had the performances over the 180 minutes that we had, it is very difficult to take. For the club, there is now some time to think about what to do for next season...

"I have no plans at the moment. I have to recover first from a huge disappointment. I'm very, very sad to leave the club with that exit. I will take some time to recover from this. The game can be very cruel; sometimes it is very nice. But the suffering is very strong tonight."

Arsenal's night did not start well, as they lost captain Laurent Koscielny to an Achilles injury after 12 minutes. The France international could now miss the 2018 FIFA World Cup, per BBC 5 Live Sport:

On the stroke of half-time, former Chelsea forward Costa powered home to put the hosts ahead, and Atleti never relinquished control of the tie.

In truth, it was not Thursday night's performance that put paid to Arsenal's chances of claiming a European trophy, although they were far from potent in attack, per Squawka:

The Gunners should have taken a lead to the Wanda Metropolitano from the first leg at the Emirates Stadium, where Atleti went down to 10 men after just 10 minutes.

As it was, Atleti escaped with a 1-1 draw after Antoine Griezmann took advantage of a Koscielny mistake to cancel out Alexandre Lacazette's opener.

It meant Arsenal travelled to Madrid needing to score at least once against a side that has now registered 12 clean sheets in a row at home.

Wenger, 68, is condemned to bow out of Arsenal with something of a whimper.

The Gunners have three games remaining of the 2017-18 season, the first of which comes against Burnley in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.