Arsenal winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has revealed his hurt at being left out of the 2014 FA Cup final by Arsene Wenger despite being fit to play.
The England international had been injured towards the end of the 2013/14 campaign, but thought he’d recovered in time to make a dream appearance at Wembley.
Arsenal took on Hull City in that year’s final, coming from 2-0 behind to win 3-2 in a thrilling contest, which Oxlade-Chamberlain admits became his main focus once the game actually started.
‘In the season when we first won the FA Cup I played pretty much all the games,’ he told Arsenal’s YouTube channel.
‘I got a little injury before the end of the season which kept me out for three weeks maybe. I came back with a week to go and I trained that week and then, to cut a long story short, the boss put out the squad for the final and I wasn’t in it.
‘To say I was devastated was an understatement. I remember going to him and he said “Well, there’s a lot of people that are maybe fitter than you at the moment” and I said “Yeah, you might be right, but I need to be in this squad” and that’s what I kept saying to him.
‘I said I’m ready and in the end he decided to take me, but as the 19th man. I still had a bit of hope that I was going to make the bench.
‘The day of the game came and he still didn’t put me on the bench and I was really devastated that day.
‘But once the game started and we were 2-0 down my own disappointment went out the window and it was all about the team and the club doing well.
‘I was just as ecstatic as anyone else was to see us do well. When we won it I was delighted and I think I actually ran on the pitch in the end and jumped on the boss, jumped and gave him a hug.’
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