Arteta: Arsenal were not good enough against Bayern Munich

20 Feb 2013 5:10:00 PM

The Spanish midfielder admitted his side had underperformed against the Bundesliga leaders, but has backed the Gunners to "go for it" in the second leg at the Allianz Arena

Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta has labelled his side’s 3-1 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday night as “not good enough”.

The north London club were 2-0 down after just 20 minutes against Die Roten, and are now faced with the difficult task of scoring three unanswered goals in Munich to progress to the quarter-final stage.

"We are very disappointed with the result,” the Spaniard told reporters after the match.

“I think for them [Bayern] to be 3-1 up is not good enough from us. We made some mistakes that cost us a lot in the game. That was the difference.”

Despite the result, Arteta could not fault the effort of his team-mates and admits they were stung on the break as they piled forward in search of an equaliser.

“I think we put everything into the game,” the 30-year-old continued.

“I think we started the game well and the first time they got around the box they scored. Then we conceded a sloppy goal at a corner again. Once it is 2-0 to a big team like this, it is a difficult game to play.

"We kept trying, kept believing and we got in the game through Lukas [Podolski] and we kept trying to get the [second] goal. We took some risks and we paid for it on the break."

Arsenal came close to overhauling a four-goal deficit against AC Milan last year, and Arteta is determined to do everything possible to win at the Allianz Arena.

"We have to go for it,” added the Spaniard. “We know it is very difficult at the moment but you never know in football. We may score early in the game."