Arsene Wenger has insisted that Laurent Koscielny was not to blame for Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.
The Gunners were on top for large parts of the match against their 10-man opponents, only for Antoine Griezmann to easily glide past Koscielny and beat covering defender Shkodran Mustafi on the line with eight minutes to go.
Wenger admitted after the match that the score draw was the "worst possible result" for Arsenal, who must now find the net at the Wanda Metropolitano in next week's return match, but the Frenchman was unwilling to apportion blame to individuals.
"The whole team is disappointed and down," he told reporters after the match. "We need to build the desire and confidence to go there qualify. It's not about blaming individuals.
"Once we were 1-0 up, the task was clear to us not be caught on the long ball. The only chance they could have was the long ball. We were a bit unlucky with the goal because it was a foul on [Danny] Welbeck, but we can only look at ourselves tonight. Even if we did not score again it was important not to concede."
Atletico have drawn 1-1 on each of their past three visits to England - against Leicester City in last season's Champions League quarter-final and at Chelsea in this season's group stage.
Daniel Lewis
