Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has warned coach Arsene Wenger not
to "humiliate" him by continuing to omit him from the Gunners
line-up.
The 37-year-old has not played for the north London outfit since
making a mistake against Blackburn on August 19, and vented his
anger in an interview with German pay-tv station Premiere, which
will be aired during Tuesday night's Champions League
programme.
"It could be that at some point I feel like commenting on the whole
issue," he said.
"But right at the moment I just accept everything as part of the
humiliation. You have to let it happen.
"But I think - and this is directed towards my dear coach - that
you should not humiliate players for too long. I am an Arsenal
player and I will not just fade away quietly."
Lehmann has remained Germany's number one under Joachim Low,
however, and kept a clean sheet in the Euro 2008 qualifier against
Republic of Ireland earlier this month.
"The disadvantage from the game against Ireland is that my coach
now knows that he has a keeper who can produce a pretty good game
out of nowhere and without match practice," Lehmann continued. "He
could not ask for a better keeper on the bench.
"I am convinced I will soon be playing again. Almunia hasn't shown
that he can win us matches just yet. I have been through this
situation once and know how the other keeper is situated mentally.
I can't imagine he will handle this.
"Wenger has spoken of three world-class goalies. I guess I must be
one of them. The others have proven their class by winning titles?
I'm just thinking about it, and I can't recall any. But yet today
they are considered world class."
