German Press Slam Arsenal and Mesut Ozil After Dismal Dortmund Defeat

Arsenal's sorry performance in their 2-0 Champions League defeat to Borussia Dortmund has been given its most damming assessment yet by the German press.

Arsene Wenger's side were outclassed by the Bundesliga giants from virtually the opening minute of their opening Group D clash at the Westfalenstadion and were lucky to leave with just a 2-0 defeat.

Mesut Ozil came in for particular criticism after another lacklustre display that saw him withdrawn early in the second half with German daily Bild giving the World Cup winner a rating of six – a grade that comes with the tagline "didn't earn his money."

The German's fellow attacking midfielders Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Alexis Sanchez all picked up a five - the second lowest rating possible - while Danny Welbeck, despite spurning three chances on goal, picked up his side's highest rating of three – 'average' in Bild's lexicon – along with goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and Kieran Gibbs.

Laurent Koscielny, who was terrorised by the pace of Dortmund goal scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, also picked up a five, along with debutant Hector Bellerin.

Three members of Klopp's side, Aubameyang, Ciro Immobile and Kevin Grosskreutz, scored a perfect score of one or 'world class', with no member of the starting XI scoring less than a two.

A defeat in the opening round of the group stage has put an early dent in the Gunners' hopes of qualifying from their group as ground winners. Following the match Wenger admitted his side had been outclassed but was left to wonder what might have been had his side been more potent in front of goal.

"Congratulations to Dortmund, they were the better team," he told Arsenal's official website. "We had a disappointing performance and the victory is normal. Still the paradox of the night is we had very good chances to score first that didn't go for us and went for them. We were caught on two counter-attacks on 45 and 48 minutes and that was very difficult."