Arsene Wenger happy with Arsenal showing in Barcelona defeat

Arsene Wenger has declared himself pleased by Arsenal's performance over the two legs against Barcelona, despite slipping to a 5-1 aggregate defeat.

The Gunners were routinely beaten by the competition's reigning champions, as a 2-0 first-leg loss was followed up by a 3-1 setback at Camp Nou this evening.

Arsenal had chances to put their opponents under some real pressure over the 180 minutes, but a failure to do so means yet another exit at the round-of-16 stage for Wenger and his troops.

"I think the performance was good," the Frenchman is quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "It was a great game between two good teams. We went out with regrets but they have exceptional quality up front and any mistake at the back they can punish.

"The turning point was at 1-1 because I thought they were wobbling a bit. If we scored a second goal then I felt we could create a sensation. But we didn't.

"In the two games, if you look at danger situations we created many. It is difficult to take to go out but I believe we produced quality performance against probably the best team in Europe."

Arsenal now turn their attention back to Premier League action this coming weekend as they prepare to take on Everton at Goodison Park, aiming to narrow the nine-point gap on leaders Leicester City.