I'd have saved Arsenal from European heartbreak, insists Lehmann

The German has been fiercely critical of Wenger's decision to overlook him this season in favour of Almunia and is almost certain to quit the Emirates in the summer. But the goalkeeper, 38, is sure he could have left Arsenal with a Champions League winners' medal if he had been given the nod for the games against Liverpool.

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'I stayed here to win the Champions League and I saw good chances to play, but I have not had these (chances) and that makes me very angry,' he fumed.

Discussing the 4-2 aggregate defeat to Liverpool, Lehmann added: 'For me personally, it is a tragedy, particularly since I did not have a chance to prevent it. I have had such thoughts (about being able to prevent defeats) ever since the coach took me out of the team following the 0-0 against Milan.'

Playing second fiddle to Almunia, a keeper he views as his inferior, has enraged Lehmann as has Wenger's failure to give him what he considers to be a fair chance to win back his place.

'To be sitting on the bench behind somebody who only started to play when he was 30 is not funny,' said Lehmann. 'I am very angry. If the coach had spoken to me before the start of the season then I would have been able to decide if I wanted to sit on the bench. He has a different opinion and I don't really believe he can be happy with it.'

Lehmann passed up the chance to join Borussia Dortmund in January to stay to fight for his place, but now fears his lack of action could jeopardise his chance of being Germany's first-choice keeper at Euro 2008.

Such is the breakdown in relations between him and his manager, Lehmann conceded even a starring role for his country this summer would be unlikely to convince Wenger that he is the best keeper at Arsenal.

He added: 'If he (Wenger) has not seen it yet, then he won't see it at the European Championship either if I perform well.'

Lehmann's club colleague, Alexander Hleb, has hit out at referees whose controversial penalty decisions also contributed to Arsenal's Champions League demise.

Hleb was clearly tugged by Dirk Kuyt in the area in the first leg of their quarter-final but the offence went unpunished, only for Liverpool to be awarded a crucial penalty on Tuesday after Ryan Babel tumbled under a Kolo Toure challenge.

Hleb also claimed that poor refereeing has ruined Arsenal's title bid. 'The Premier League is a very tough competition. Yes, the game is fast and beautiful, but there are also quite a lot of bad tackles and crudeness, and recently also monstrous refereeing mistakes.

'Chelsea scored a goal against us from an obvious offside position but the referee allowed it. And we scored a goal which was very important for us but it was disallowed for a non-existent offside.'

Hleb has been unimpressed by the ferocity in the English game and the punishment meted out to players guilty of lunges, like the one by Birmingham's Martin Taylor which left Eduardo with a double compound leg fracture.

'There are quite a lot of bone-breaking players here,' claimed Hleb. 'English referees are very liberal to them. They do it because they know there will be no real punishment. Eduardo is out for a year, maybe more. His future is under a question mark.

'The guy who did it was only disqualified for three games. Is it an adequate punishment?'

Arsenal's France midfielder Mathieu Flamini is expected to be out for three weeks with an ankle injury suffered on Tuesday.