Arsene Wenger shares biggest regret and admits he'd swap Invincibles season to rectify it

Arsene Wenger has admitted he would swap his ‘Invincible’ Premier League season, for a Champions League winners’ medal with Arsenal.

The Gunners etched their name into British sporting history in 2003/04, when they won the top-flight crown without losing a game, the first side to do so in over a century.

But during his 22-year spell at Arsenal, one trophy eluded him, the Champions League.

His nearest miss was in 2006, when after going one up against Barcelona, they were beaten 2-1 after playing much of the game with ten men.

And speaking 14 years later, Wenger has revealed he would swap his greatest achievement to get a win in that final.

Arsene Wenger following the 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in 2006 (AFP/Getty)

He told talkSPORT: “Yes, but what I mean is – in 2006, we got to the Champions League final and eliminated a big Real Madrid team, a Juventus team without conceding a goal.

“And in the final, we were down to ten men after a few minutes. My biggest regret is that, to win the Champions League in 2006, would have crowned that period and that generation and it is what they deserved.

A despondent Wenger reacts during the game at the Stade de France (Getty Images Sport Classic)

“But it wasn’t to be and you have to live with that.”

Going into more detail on the defeat, the 70-year-old conceded that he got it tactically wrong on the night, failing to change formation in the all-important closing stages.

Asked what went wrong in that game, he told the Guardian: “I ask myself this question many times. Maybe I would just play with two central defenders in the last 13 minutes when we were 2-1 down.

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Juliano Belletti scores the winner during Arsenal's 2-1 defeat (Reuters)

“But the regret from that Champions League year is that we’d beaten Real Madrid with Zidane and Ronaldo, we’d beaten Juventus with Ibrahimović, Trezeguet and Vieira.

“And we go into the final and we haven’t conceded a goal in the knockout stages against these teams. When you play the whole game with 10 men, you know the last 20 minutes will be difficult, especially against a team like Barcelona. But we had the chance to score the second goal two times and we missed it.

“So it’s mixed feelings. Every defeat plays on my mind. And you have to think not what you should have done, but what could you have done?”