Arsene Wenger rues Arsenal misses vs Atletico Madrid - 'We had chances to be in the Europa League final tonight'

After a night where Arsenal had enough chances "to be in the final" of the Europa League, Arsene Wenger was left with a bitter taste after Antoine Griezmann hit his side with the most brutal of sucker punches.

A 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium is far from enough to eliminate Arsenal, but they must now go to the Wanda Metropolitana - where Atletico Madrid haven’t conceded a goal since January 20 - and score at least once.

Their greatest problem was that they didn’t score more than one on Thursday night: they rained down 28 shots on goal, only for a combination of wayward finishing and the exceptional Jan Oblak to keep their lead down to Alexandre Lacazette’s 61st-minute header.

Still 1-0 would have been the perfect scoreline, even against a Spanish side who had spent 80 minutes down to 10 men after Sime Vrsaljko saw red.

One error was enough to undo 82 minutes of good work, however. Laurent Koscielny cleared the ball into Griezmann’s face and the Atleti striker scrambled the ball home, first pouncing on the rebound from an initial shot blocked by David Ospina and then seeing Shkodran Mustafi deflect his shot into the net.

Suddenly Arsenal are rank outsiders again, but Wenger is convinced they have the quality to win in Madrid.

"For us the task is clear," he told Standard Sport. "Of course you come out tonight with a bitter taste.

"We had chances to be in the final tonight. That’s where the regret is. We were not clinical enough.

"We gave a goal away and unfortunately that puts you in a very difficult position.

"I haven’t seen [the goal] again. It’s not about blaming individuals. The whole team is very disappointed and down.

"For us to have a chance to qualify we have to first get the disappointment out of the way and rebuild the desire and confidence to go there and get through."

Koscielny’s error will inevitably take the shine off what had been a superb performance. Even before Vrsaljko’s red, which was soon followed by Diego Simeone being sent to the stands, Arsenal had been the better side.

Lacazette and Aaron Ramsey both would have added to their tally but for spectacular interventions from Oblak. But, as when David De Gea denied them time and time again in a 3-1 win for Manchester United in November, Wenger was left to brood on the profligacy of his forwards.

"I feel we produced a performance we wanted to produce," said the outgoing Arsenal manager. "The result is not in line with the performance. It was against a team who defends well, we had to not give any chances away.

"Once we were 1-0 up the task was clear for us, not to be caught on the long ball. They could not combine enough to come out and create a chance. The only chance they could have is on the long ball.

"We were a bit unlucky on the goal because it was a foul on Welbeck. We can only look at ourselves on tonight’s result because 1-0 is the perfect result at home. It’s just down to us after that not to make a mistake.

"We had over 20 shots on goal, against Manchester United we had 33, and we lost games. It’s a story we have seen before."