Kolo Toure today insisted referee Peter Frojdfeldt was wrong to award Liverpool the hotly-disputed penalty which sent Arsenal crashing out of the Champions League.

The Swedish official believed Toure had brought down Ryan Babel after the two players appeared to tangle inside the box last night. Steven Gerrard slotted in the spot-kick to put Liverpool 3-2 ahead with just four minutes to go.

But Toure maintained he did not commit a foul on the winger ahead of the penalty decision and that, if there was any contact, it was with Cesc Fabregas and outside the area.

The Ivory Coast defender said: "We came back into it and then Liverpool got a penalty which was really hard to accept.

"The referee gave the foul against me but I just moved away from him [Babel] and Cesc caught his hand, maybe, which was outside the area anyway - but that is the game and the referee has given the penalty. What can you do?"

Manager Arsene Wenger described the penalty as "dodgy" and a "gift" from the Swedish official which swung the game in the home side's favour with Liverpool winning 4-2 on the night and the quarter-final 5-3 on aggregate.

He also claimed his side had been the victim of bad decisions in both legs after Arsenal were denied a spot-kick when Dirk Kuyt pulled back Alexander Hleb in the second half at Emirates Stadium last week.

The Arsenal boss said: "We have a feeling of disappointment and injustice. The whole dressing room is down. The game is over for us. It was down to a dodgy decision from the referee. Over the two games it was difficult to swallow. It was a double disappointment because all the big decisions went against us.

"We have to live with that. Sometimes you have to swallow the unswallowable. It is difficult to understand for me. It was never a penalty. I have watched it clearly again, but last week it was definitely a penalty."

Despite the anger aimed at the official, Gael Clichy believes the players have to take some of the blame and slammed the manner of their exit as "ridiculous".

The French left-back was appalled by his team's failure to hold on to a possible away-goal victory at Anfield after Emmanuel Adebayor had made it 2-2 in the 84th minute.

Clichy said: "We did well to score the first goal and to come back and get the game to 2-2. And at that point we were through. But what happened after that was really disappointing. To concede a goal like this, whether it is a penalty or not a penalty, may be disappointing but it is not unlucky.

"It is unreal to have had a chance like this, to score the equaliser and get to 2-2 and then to concede a goal only a few seconds after kick-off. I can't find the words for it. It is just ridiculous."

Arsenal now have only the Premier League title to play for and Clichy made it very clear that being known as great entertainers is no longer any substitute for silverware.

He said: "In the end we did not qualify and that's all that matters. We know we have the quality to score on any ground and we proved that last night.

"At 2-1 we did not give up. We had the chances to score and we took one of them.

"So we were through with only a few minutes to go. But you cannot concede a goal like this [the third goal] and then another one to Babel at the end.

"It is really disappointing. Even if we have improved from last season, the main thing we wanted was to get through, to qualify, to win things. And even if we have progressed as a team, we are still out of the Champions League."

Looking ahead, the Frenchman was uncertain about his side's title aspirations, adding: "Can we win the title now? I don't know. We showed at Anfield again, at a difficult place, that we have talent and that we can score goals.

"We have the quality. But we will see in the next five games if we can be champions."

Midfielder Gilberto Silva was more upbeat about his side's prospects of bouncing back. The Brazilian said: "We cannot lose our belief now - let's not forget we played a very good game at Anfield.

"Sometimes you learn more through the pain of defeat, although nobody likes losing the chance of making a Champions League final.

"And if there is a lesson, it must be that we have to concentrate to the very end."

Liverpool now take on Chelsea in the semi-finals for the third time in four seasons and manager Rafa Benitez believes his team should have no reason to be fearful, even though the second leg will be at Stamford Bridge this time.

He said: "It is amazing that it is Chelsea again and just as before it will be a tough game.

"Will [being at home in the second leg] that be an advantage to Chelsea? I don't know."