Ozil apologises after penalty miss

Arsenal’ Mesut Ozil has apologised to the north London club’s fans after his penalty miss in the side’s 2-0 Champions League loss to holders Bayern Munich.

Arsenal were beaten by goals from Toni Kroos and Thomas Mueller but things could have been different had Ozil converted his first-half penalty.

Ozil was also criticised for the penalty miss by boss Arsene Wenger, who questioned his short run-up technique.

“The next morning doesn’t feel better either,” Ozil wrote on his Facebook page.

“Sorry guys – it wasn’t planned that way. Outnumbered, it was really hard to win against this team.”

Ozil made a promising start for the Gunners after his £42.5m signing from Real Madrid last summer but has struggled to make an impact in the last few months.

Club and country teammate Per Mertesacker, however, believes that Ozil needs time to properly settle at Arsenal.

“We have a lot of games here in England and everyone is tired, but it is not just up to Mesut,” said Mertesacker. “It is up to everybody to encourage and come back, during the game we all need to encourage each other.

“Mesut has played a lot of games and he is a massive player, we need him at his best. Game by game, he will come back stronger.”