Bitter Lehmann: 'I Could
Have Kept Arsenal In Europe.
Lehmann, showing his finger to someone... 
Jens Lehmann claims he could have prevented
Arsenal from going out of the Champions League, if only he had been
given a chance. The 38-year-old goalkeeper spoke of his anger at
being consigned to the bench and attacked both manager Arsene
Wenger and the man who is keeping him out of the side, Manuel
Almunia, in an interview with Germany's Kicker
magazine.
"I stayed here to win the Champions League and I saw good
chances to play, but I have not had these (chances) and that makes
me very angry," he said. The Germany number one was left to
seething as he saw his European dream ended following the Gunners'
4-2 defeat at Liverpool in Tuesday's quarter-final second leg.
"For me personally, it is a tragedy, particularly since I did
not have a chance to prevent it," he said. "I have had such
thoughts (about being able to prevent defeats) ever since the coach
took me out of the team following the 0-0 against Milan."
Lehmann turned down the chance to move to Borussia Dortmund
during the winter break and pledged he would fight to regain his
place in the Arsenal team. In doing so, he may have compromised his
chances of remaining first choice for Germany at Euro 2008, and
Lehmann cannot believe the gamble has not paid off, with Almunia
still standing ahead of him in the Arsenal goal.
"To be sitting on the bench behind somebody who only started to
play when he was 30 is not funny," he added. "I am very angry."
Furthermore, Lehmann feels he has been treated badly by Wenger,
claiming he has not been given a fair chance. He said: "If the
coach had spoken to me before the start of the season then I would
have been able to decide if I wanted to sit on the bench. "He has a
different opinion and I don't really believe he can be happy with
it."
But Lehmann does not feel he will be able to prove Wenger wrong
by shining at Euro 2008 with Germany, claiming his manager would
probably not even notice he is there. "If he has not seen it yet
then he won't see it at the European Championships either if I
perform well," said a bitter Lehmann.
