Arsene Wenger has opened the door on the extraordinary prospect of returning to Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium with another team after admitting that he hopes to continue in elite European club competition.

“I hope these are not my last European cup games – my target is to play in Europe again,” said Wenger, ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final first leg against Atletico Madrid.

He had earlier replied that "the timing was not really my decision" in response to a direct question about why he was leaving a year before his contract ends and also revealed uncertainty about the imminent prospect of ending his record-breaking 22-year tenure in North London.

“I’ve had no break [from football management] for 35 years,” said Wenger. “You can look around, and that doesn’t exist. I don’t know now how addicted I am. I am like a guy who plays Russian roulette every week and suddenly has no gun. I will see how much I miss that gun.

“You live always in extreme situations. When I started at 33, I thought I would never survive in this job, but you learn to dominate your emotions. You are never sure if you do the right thing. It will be surreal when I don’t work. At the moment I work.”