Arsene Wenger has claimed that the criticism directed at Arsenal following their Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich has been 'unjustified'.
The Gunners fell to a 5-1 reverse in the second leg of their last-16 tie at the Emirates Stadium, seeing them exit the competition with a 10-2 aggregate loss - a record for an English team.
Wenger was unhappy with a key decision going against his side last Tuesday, as the referee controversially awarded Bayern a penalty and dismissed Laurent Koscielny when Arsenal were 1-0 up on the night.
Speaking after his side's routine 5-0 win over minnows Lincoln City on Saturday evening, seeing them through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, the Frenchman insisted that Arsenal were "outstanding" against the German giants despite the margin of defeat.
"I think the team was unjustifiably criticised for our last game against Bayern Munich because we had an outstanding game," he told reporters.
"Our game was killed not by the fault of the players. But we have to take a distance with that and have a look at a bigger perspective than people want to do.
"And overall, to respond today, that's what we did. I think we had an outstanding game against Bayern Munich. Our game was killed by the referee. I've watched this game three times now, and it's still the referee who killed our game."
Under-fire Wenger has reportedly been given three weeks to make a decision over his Arsenal future, with Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri understood to be waiting in the wings.
Daniel Lewis
