Ally McCoist blames three Arsenal stars for costly error that led to Champions League exit

Ally McCoist has blasted the defending from Arsenal in the build-up to the Bayern Munich goal that dumped the Gunners out of the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Not much could separate the two teams at the Allianz, until Joshua Kimmich's 63rd minute bullet header swung the game in Bayern's favour and sealed their place in the final four of the competition. They will meet Real Madrid in the next round while Arsenal are left to lick their wounds and wonder where it all went wrong.

Mikel Arteta's men started the second-leg brightly enough and looked significantly more assured defensively than they did in the first leg. That meeting ended 2-2, with the Gunners gifting Thomas Tuchel's side two goals that helped the Bundesliga titans claim an important result.

However, the killer blow came with Kimmich's header just after the hour mark in the second leg and McCoist certainly feels Arsenal could have done more to prevent it. The Scottish football legend was on co-commentary with TNT Sports for the clash and praised the Bayern ace for the goal, but criticised the defending of Takehiro Tomiyasu, Declan Rice and Gabriel Martinelli.

"It looks like he is the only one moving in the box," McCoist explained. "It’s a tremendous header, it really is. But you have got to say, we have seen it coming.

"They have been the better team in the second half. Again, [Leroy] Sane does well down the left-hand side, it’s a deep cross and look at him attack it. They are standing still.

"There are three Arsenal defenders, [Takehiro] Tomiyasu is one of them and one of them has got to watch him but they allow him to come. He doesn’t half finish it well. He’s really aggressive and attacks the area. It’s [Gabriel] Martinelli, he doesn’t match the runner. That said, what a header, what a cross."

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Joshua Kimmich was given the freedom of the penalty area for the game's only goal

It marked the second successive defeat for Arsenal after last Sunday's shock 2-0 home loss at the hands of Aston Villa. Some felt that game cost the Gunners the Premier League title, but in the wake of Champions League elimination, Arteta called on his players to respond on the domestic front.

"W hat we have to play for is beautiful," he explained. " Six games to go and we are two points behind City. It is a very difficult schedule for everybody.

"We have to go through the pain tonight and tomorrow, get up and come with the same attitude we did when we came here and hopefully beat Wolves."

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