Arsenal-Mania

Píres: Wenger decision made my mind up to leave

By Jonathan Chong on Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Former Arsenal winger Robért Píres revealed that he was forced to leave the North London club when he was sacrificed in the Champions League final against Barcelona.

Jens Lehmann was shown a red card and manager Arsčne Wenger chose to substitute Píres to bring on goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.

The Villareal winger, recovering from a serious knee injury, said that it was already on his mind to leave Arsenal and that talks with Villareal were at an advanced stage.

Píres, 33, explained: "I was in advanced talks with the directors of Villarreal but, despite what was being said, nothing was signed.

"What happened at the Stade de France tipped the balance in favour of the Spanish club. I thought, 'I'll have to leave now'.

"I met Arsčne Wenger 48 hours after the game and told him so. Until then, I didn't really know what I was going to do.

"After six years at Arsčne's side, it wasn't the end of our adventure that I wanted. But that takes nothing from what I learned thanks to him.

"It was a terrible blow. I've had it out with Arsčne since but I admit I wouldn't like to have taken the decision in his place.

"I know that, for him too, it was difficult to live with.

"Frankly, though, being taken off by the manager so soon in the game - in Paris, moreover - was the hardest thing to accept. I can't bear him a grudge.

"But, after that hard blow, I knew I could no longer continue with Arsenal."

User Comments

4

aabbs

Posted on 1 Feb, 2007 at 01:27 AM - Reply

Thats football, it would have been nice for pires to score the winning goal, win arsenal the cup, and then move on, but the reality was someone needed to be sacrificed, Pires was the right sacrifice, he should be angry with lehmann if anyone.

3

Rachid

Posted on 1 Feb, 2007 at 01:17 AM - Reply

We still love you Super Rob!

2

stp

Posted on 31 Jan, 2007 at 05:25 PM - Reply

thinks only about himself, not the team, eh?? the situation was forced upon wenger. someone's had to be substituted, not an idela situation ... unless pires can play the goalie. shame! sounds more like reyes now.

1

Merse-10

Posted on 31 Jan, 2007 at 02:47 PM - Reply

I love Pires but i don't see what other option Wenger had in the CL final. The chances are Bobby would not have finished the 90 minutes anyway so if Arsene had taken off Freddie or Hleb he would've had to take Bobby off later in the match.

It's not the way Bobby, Arsene or any fans wanted Pires' Arsenal career to end but sadly i couldn't see the alternative