Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has claimed that video assistant referees could have helped the Gunners secure the Champions League in past seasons.
Having picked up three Premier League titles, seven FA cups and six Community Shields, the only silverware missing from the Frenchman’s record are a League Cup and either of the European trophies.
The Gunners have come close to securing both the UEFA Cup (now Europa League) and the Champions League in the past, having reached the finals in 2000 and 2006 respectively.
However, Wenger, who has been at the club for 21 years, believes that the implementation of video assistant referees, as is being trialled in competitions such as the Confederations Cup, could have seen the North London side lift the Champions League trophy in seasons gone by.
He claims in an interview with Arsenal TV, available on the club’s official website, that VAR would have overturned Samuel Eto’o’s equaliser for Barcelona in the 2006 final for offside.
The Gunners were leading 1-0 with 15 minutes left to play, only for the Catalan side to turn it round to win 2-1, and Wenger admits that is the number one decision he would have liked to have seen overturned.
The 67-year-old told Arsenal TV: “That’s the trophy I miss here, you know, so that is for me the most important one (decision).”
He also claims that VAR could have saved his team’s chances against Barcelona in their Round of 16 clash in 2011, which saw Robin van Persie contentiously dismissed for two bookable offences.
“This was the moment we were qualified against a very strong team, and it was a very difficult decision to accept – it basically killed our chances,” Wenger told Arsenal TV.
The Gunners will have to wait at least another season to taste success in Europe’s top competition, after a sixth placed finish in the Premier League could only secure them Europa League football for the upcoming campaign.