Bayern Munich 'Puzzled' After Arsene Wenger Spurns Pep Guardiola Handshake

Bayern Munich officials have reportedly been left "puzzled" after Arsene Wenger did not shake Pep Guardiola's hand during Arsenal's Champions League clash with the German giants at the Emirates on Wednesday night.

Arsenal lost the game 2-0, a defeat hastened by the sending off of goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny after 37 minutes.


It means the Gunners' hopes in Europe's elite competition are all but over.

The Daily Mirror quotes from German journalist Raphael Honigstein:

German journalist Rafael Honigstein of the Süddeutsche Zeitung has made the claims, further adding that Bayern officials are "puzzled" by Wenger's lack of courtesy.

It isn't the first time that the Arsenal boss has been embroiled in a handshake controversy.

In 2009 he refused to shake Mark Hughes' hand after the Welshman's Manchester City side had knocked Arsenal out of the League Cup.

Our own columnist, Guillem Balague, has also suggested that Wenger defied convention to ignore the handshake, but added that there had been no greeting before the match, which would in turn imply that the slight was not in the heat of the moment or a response to the on-field action:

Wenger was also unhappy with the play-acting of Arjen Robben. He spoke out against it after the match and suggested the German team as a whole exaggerated contact. Per the Daily Mail:

Robben has enough experience to make more of it. They made the most of every contact and we are not used to it. We are not used to it in England. We are not used to that in the Premier League.

If the tie were more evenly poised, it would add some more spice and intrigue to the return leg at the Allianz Arena in three weeks. As it is, Bayern may already be too far in front for the Gunners to come back.

That said, Arsenal did spring a huge surprise in the return leg at the same stage last year. 

The Gunners lost the first leg 3-1 before going to Germany and winning 2-0—only to be eliminated on away goals.