Mikel Arteta 'extremely frustrated' as penalty call goes against Arsenal in 'best European game in years'

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta bemoaned his side being denied what he felt was a clear penalty as they suffered defeat at Inter Milan.

The Gunners were beaten 1-0 by Inter thanks to a penalty from midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu on the stroke of half-time.

Arteta was aggrieved by that, feeling it was harsh to adjudged Mikel Merino had handled the ball, and he also felt Arsenal should have had a penalty of their own before then.

Merino was caught in the head by Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer when attempting to get on a cross, but referee Istvan Kovacs waved away calls for a penalty and the incident survived a VAR check, too.

“I don’t understand [the decision], it’s just a deflection,” said Arteta, when asked about Inter winning a penalty for a handball by Merino.

“There is no danger at all, you cannot react because you are very close but ok, they decide that is a penalty.

“We were told at the start of the season that wasn’t a penalty, that was clear. Today was a different story.

“But then if that’s a penalty, then the one on Mikel Merino when he punches him in the head has to be 1000 per cent a penalty and these are the margins in this game and it’s very, very difficult to accept.”

The defeat was Arsenal’s third in their last six games, but they had chances to get back into the match.

Arteta’s side finished the game with 20 shots on goal, their most without scoring in a Champions League game since November 2006.

“The worst thing of the night, for sure, is the result, because the performance, the attitude, the dominance that we showed against one of the best teams in Europe in this stadium, I haven’t seen it in all the other games that I’ve watched,” said Arteta.

“But the reality is the result and we participated in that, because we had many situations that we can resolve much better in front of goal and score at least two goals.

“And then [I am] extremely frustrated as well because there are two decisions that at the end marks the result and the course of the game.

“The concern tonight is the result and obviously in both boxes at the end we didn’t do what we have to do.

“When we didn’t, then someone else didn’t and that’s it. For sure, this is the way that I want to see my team. All the big games that we have in Europe by far this was the best one that we played in the last few years.”