Arsene Wenger admitted that Arsenal missed enough chances to have already reached the Europa League final and claimed that his players did not benefit from playing for more than 80 minutes against only 10 Atletico Madrid players.

The 10th minute dismissal of Sime Vrsaljko helped Arsenal dominate the match but, even with 76 per cent of possession and 28 shots, this first leg ended with what Wenger called the “worst possible result” in the context of his team’s chances.

“The result is not in line with the performance,” he said. “Once they went down to 10 men it destroyed a bit the flow of the game and it was not to our advantage. You come out with a bitter taste because we had the chances to be in the final tonight.

“We had the chances in the first half. That’s where the regret is and we were not clinical enough. Unfortunately we gave a goal away, which puts us in a very difficult position. Of course it feels like an opportunity missed.”

Wenger was especially angry at how his team had contrived to concede a goal to Antoine Greizmann following a rare counter-attack from Atletico and a series of defensive errors. Arsenal must now score away to have any chance of reaching the final against a team who have not conceded in their past 11 home matches.