LONDON: Arsene Wenger celebrated Arsenal's progress to the last 16 of the Champions League by taking a swipe at the critics inside and outside the Emirates Stadium.
Wenger found himself under siege in the run up to Wednesday's Champions League clash against Borussia Dortmund as a section of Arsenal's fanbase called for his sacking, while Alisher Usmanov, the club's second largest shareholder, went public with some stinging criticism of the Gunners manager.
Wenger's club have endured their worst start to a domestic campaign for 30 years and another loss against Dortmund would have jeopardised Arsenal's hopes of qualifying from Group D and further increased the heat on the Frenchman.
But Wenger was able to silence the doubters as Yaya Sanogo's first goal for the club was followed by a sublime Alexis Sanchez strike in a dominant 2-0 victory that ensured Arsenal will play in the knock-out stages of Europe's elite club competition for the 15th successive season.
With a crucial victory in the bag, Wenger took the opportunity to underline his belief in his players and his lack of respect for those who question his methods.
"I don't try to think about other people. What is important is what we do inside the club. We are united," said Wenger.
"This team has a top quality attitude. We showed it in the game. We were determined and committed.
"We were a bit more under pressure because we lost on Saturday when we were a victim of our generous attitude going forward. Tonight we had more urgency to defend when we went 1-0 up.
"When you work in the football club you realise it is not easy to have consistency and I'm very proud of making it to the last 16 again.
"The club deserves a lot of credit as well, but it's not enough because we want more."
Wenger's decision to select inexperienced France Under-21 striker Sanogo instead of Germany international Lukas Podolski could have given the critics more ammunition if he had performed poorly.
But he repaid Wenger's faith with a muscular effort that added a little more power than usual to Arsenal's attack.
"Sanogo played well, he protected the ball and won many challenges," said Wenger.
"He's a young boy, but he has presence and he's committed and very determined. That is vital up front."
Unfortunately for Wenger, Sanogo came off with a hamstring injury to join a growing injury list that also includes captain Mikel Arteta, who could be sidelined for several weeks with a calf problem suffered against Dortmund, Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Theo Walcott and Wojciech Szczesny.
"The injury situation is a problem because we have many games and now we have lost two more players," added Wenger.
Despite the injuries, Wenger said he was likely to field the strongest possible team in the final group match at Galatasaray in a bid to catch leaders Dortmund, who have a two-point advantage heading into their last game against Anderlecht.
"I will try to win the last game because you never know, if Anderlecht win in Dortmund and we don't win we will say we are stupid. It is unlikely though. It is 90 percent we will finish second," added Wenger.
Although Dortmund had already qualified for the last 16, boss Jurgen Klopp had been hoping for a more positive result as he looks to lift his team out their domestic rut.
Dortmund are in terrible form in the Bundesliga and Klopp acknowledged it would take a reliance on hard work to get back on track.
"We will get out of this through work, that always does the trick in life," he said.
"We don't have parties between games, we always work on things, but it is a different feeling now, we have to admit that.
"We don't need perfect football, just better results. People don't want to hear it but that's the truth."
Mandzukic treble helps Atletico into knock-out rounds
Croatia striker Mario Mandzukic blasted a hat-trick as last year's beaten finalists Atletico Madrid booked their place in the knock-out rounds of the Champions League with a 4-0 win over Olympiakos on Wednesday.
Juventus are in pole position to join the Spanish champions in qualifying from Group A after goals from Spaniard Fernando Llorente and Argentina's Carlos Tevez gave them a 2-0 win at Malmo, who are eliminated.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone warned his players against getting complacent ahead of the final match
"We know it will still be very difficult," he said.
"No one would have thought we would be in this position [after losing their first game] and thanks to the effort of the players we have won four games in a row and can win the group."
Olympiakos can still qualify in second place but must beat Malmo at home in two weeks time and hope Juve lose to Atletico in Italy.
Raul Garcia opened the scoring for Atletico before Mandzukic took over but the Spaniards still need a draw against Juve in Turin in two weeks – or a defeat by no more than one goal – to finish top of Group A.
Two goals from Chancel Mbemba gave Anderlecht their first win of the group stage with a 2-0 success against Galatasaray that secured them the consolation place in the Europa League.
Real down Basel 1-0
Title-holders Real Madrid continued their perfect record in this season's competition as Cristiano Ronaldo netted in a 1-0 Group B win at Basel.
That goal, set up by Karim Benzema, took Ronaldo level with former Real star Raul on 71 Champions League goals, second only to Lionel Messi, whose hat-trick on Tuesday took him on to 74 goals.
The result gave a boost to Liverpool's chances of qualifying for the last 16 despite the English side being pegged back by a late Georgi Terziev leveller in a 2-2 draw at Bulgarians Ludogorets.
Liverpool and Ludogorets trail Basel by two points in the race for second place but the English side know they must win at Anfield in two weeks time to ensure they progress, or else Basel's name will go into the draw for the last 16.
"We are disappointed with the goal we conceded in the end but it is irrelevant, we need to beat Basel in the final game," said Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers, who was nonetheless happy with the result.
"This is a real confidence boost for us, because Ludogorets are a really difficult team to play against."
Ludogorets are out as they cannot finish above either Liverpool and Basel, even in the unlikely event they were to win at the Bernabeu in their last match.
Liverpool suffered a torrid evening as Dani Abalo gave the Bulgarians a third-minute lead.
Rickie Lambert's first Champions League goal followed by a strike from Jordan Henderson, teed up by Raheem Sterling, put the visitors in the driving seat by half-time, but they couldn't hold out.
Bayer Leverkusen added their name to the last 16 qualifiers despite being beaten 1-0 at home to Monaco in Group C.
Lucas Ocampos scored the only goal of the game in Germany 18 minutes from time from close range after being teed up by Nabil Dirar.
It means the French side need only avoid defeat at home to Zenit St Petersburg in two weeks to join Leverkusen in the knock-out stages.
Zenit beat Benfica 1-0 in Russia – the result that secured Leverkusen's qualification – thanks to a goal from Portuguese winger Danny.
Leverkusen can ensure top spot in Group C by winning away to Benfica, who are already out, in two weeks, while Zenit must beat Monaco to progress.
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