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Jack Wilshere has admitted that he made contact with Ramon Motta in the area during Arsenal’s 1-0 victory in the second leg of their Champions league qualifier at the Emirates Stadium, with manager Arsene Wenger even suggesting that the player had clipped Motta in the first-half incident.
“I think I touched him,” the England midfielder admitted in his post-match interview. “I tried to stop him and I slipped.”
Wilshere, who had been one of Arsenal’s stand-out performers in the home leg, connected with Motta when charging back in the box to defend flowing Besiktas move.
Referee Pedro Proença, who had a busy night with handing out nine 10 cards including Mathieu Debuchy’s second booking, waved away Besiktas's appeals for the incident, which occurred with the match still goalless.
Wenger said about on the penalty decision: “Maybe we were lucky with the Wilshere [penalty] occasion.”
His opposite number, Slaven Bilic, refused to talk about it.
The Gunners reached the Champions League group stage for the 17th consecutive season after £35m signing Alexis Sanchez scored the only goal of the game with his first effort in an Arsenal shirt, latching onto Mesut Ozil’s pass, via Wilshere, to score on the stroke of half-time.
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