Szczesny holds onto Champions League hope

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has not given up all hope of pulling off an unlikely Champions League comeback against AC Milan.

The Londoners’ European hopes were all but dashed on Wednesday, as they were completely out-classed by an in-form AC Milan 4-0 at San Siro in the round-of-16 first leg.

While Szczesny conceded that his side face an uphill struggle to qualify for the next round, he refused to throw in the towel just yet.

“It’s not impossible to come back but it’s going to be very difficult,” he told Arsenal Player.

“Milan showed how good they are tonight and it’s going to be very difficult.”

“We showed last week against Blackburn how good we can be if we are on the front foot, and if we manage to score an early goal then anything can happen.”

“We have quality attacking players and we can score goals so why not? But we have to realise that it’s going to be really, really difficult.”

Szczesny said that Arsenal were simply beaten by the better team on the night, however, he is keen to move on quickly to avoid finishing the season in poor fashion.

He added: “It was a very difficult night and it’s hard to take right now.”

“We have to admit that Milan were the better team and they completely deserved the victory. It’s hard to take but hopefully we can pick ourselves up.”

“We’re full of belief that we can still have a successful season. It’s a big blow for us tonight but I’m confident we’ll pick ourselves up and do our best in all the games we have coming up.”