Mesut Ozil ruled out of Arsenal’s clash with Bayern Munich due to illness… despite smiling and joking in training on Monday
Gunners midfielder will miss the all-important Champions League last-16 second leg with Londoners needing a miracle
ARSENAL just suffered another blow as they bid to work miracles and progress in the Champions League as Mesut Ozil has been ruled out of the game.
The Gunners will host Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich trailing 5-1 from the last-16 first leg.
Needing to score at least four times against one of the best teams on the planet, they will need to do so without their German playmaker.
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Ozil also missed the heavy 3-1 defeat at the hands of Liverpool at Anfield at the weekend, but appeared ready to take on Bayern as he looked in good spirits in training.
But Arsene Wenger, perhaps admitting his team are facing near-certain elimination has opted to not name the German in his squad, citing lack of match practice as the reason.
Ahead of the game the French boss said: "Ozil is not in the squad, he only had one session and isn't physically ready to be in the squad."
Wenger added he wants his team to go on the attack and score early in a bid to blow the tie wide open, saying: "That's the ideal situation.
";But we want to give ourselves a chance by attacking and scoring goals.
"We have shown we are not up for a fight and that's what I want to see tomorrow.
"We need to come around. Against Liverpool we had a real chance to push it and show we are a real unit.
"It's hard for the manager to select but he does it with his best knowledge and we trust him.
"We need to make the first step to get the fans on board again. We need our fans.
"We've done something wrong in the last few games and we have to learn from our mistakes quickly."
The jury remains out as to whether Alexis Sanchez will make the squad after his very public alleged fall-out with Wenger and his Arsenal team-mates ahead of the Liverpool game.
