Aaron Ramsey: Arsenal made to pay for switching off for 30 seconds

Arsenal's Aaron RamseyPhoto: Nike

Aaron Ramsey believes Arsenal were made to pay for switching off for “30 seconds” in the build-up to Borussia Dortmund’s winner on Tuesday.

With the score at 1-1 after Olivier Giroud had cancelled out Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s first-half opener, the Gunners were caught out by a sweeping Dortmund counter-attack, which culminated in Robert Lewandowski firing home from close range in the 82nd minute.

The result leaves Arsène Wenger’s men level on six points with Dortmund and Napoli in Group F – and Ramsey admitted his frustration at the Gunners’ inability to hold out for a draw.

“A draw would have been a fair result after the way we played in the second half,” Ramsey told Arsenal Player.

“I felt like we were in control of the game but then we switched off for 30 seconds, we were in their box and 30 seconds later the ball is in the back of our net.

“I was disappointed as well with the way they scored their first goal, I got caught on the ball and that was disappointing. We were a bit slow to start but I thought after about 25 minutes we got into the game, we got our goal and then we took that into the second half.

“We were in control of the game, we didn’t look like we were going to concede, but then we did. That’s what happens [when you switch off].

“We showed good character getting back into game… and we created a few chances in the second half and hit the bar. On another night we may have taken the lead but we have to learn from the way we defended for the second goal.”