'Outcast' Lehmann blasts Wenger

Wenger has omitted Lehmann (left) for much of the season

Out-of-favour goalkeeper Jens Lehmann claims he could have prevented Arsenal going out of the Champions League - if only he had been given the chance.

In German magazine Kicker, Lehmann, 38, hit out at manager Arsene Wenger and first-choice keeper Manuel Almunia, 30, after the defeat by Liverpool.

"For me it is a tragedy since I did not have a chance to prevent it," he said.

"I stayed here to win the competition and saw good chances to play but I've not had them. It makes me very angry."

During the Bundesliga's winter break, the German number one rejected a return to Borussia Dortmund in an effort to regain his starting place with the Gunners.

606: DEBATE Your views on Lehmann's comments

But this has not happened and Lehmann is concerned that a lack of first-team action could cost him any chance of playing at Euro 2008.

"To be sitting on the bench behind somebody who only started to play when he was 30 is not funny," he added. "I am very angry."

He also laid into Wenger over his handling of the situation.

"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 stated.

"He has a different opinion and I don't really believe he can be happy with it."