Mikel Arteta doesn't understand the penalty decisions in the game against Inter Milan

Mikel Arteta has admitted he doesn't understand why Inter Milan were awarded a penalty and Arsenal weren't during Wednesday's Champions League clash.

Arsenal were disappointed after Wednesday's Champions League clash against Inter Milan after the hosts secured a 1-0 win despite scoring very few goals in the 90 minutes.

Although Inter had a good chance early on and hit the crossbar, they had no serious opportunities out of play for the rest of the game.

Instead, their only chance to score came from a very soft penalty where the ball hit Mikel Merino's hand when he had no time to react. Hakan Calhanoglu converted the subsequent penalty.

It was particularly frustrating that Merino was involved in the incident as the same player arguably should have received a penalty after being hit in the head by the Inter goalkeeper.

The goalkeeper aimed for the ball but missed it and caught the man in the penalty area. Nothing was given and Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta appears perplexed by the two post-match decisions.

“I don't understand (the decision), it's just a distraction, there's no danger at all, you can't react because you're very close, but ok, they decide it's a penalty,” Arteta began .

“We were told at the start of the season that it wasn’t a penalty, that was clear.

“But if that is a penalty, then hitting Mikel Merino in the head must 1000% be a penalty. These are the margins in this game and it is very, very difficult to accept that.

“Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do, we won’t be able to change it, so unfortunately we have to accept it and move on.”

Arsenal created a number of other chances over the course of the 90 minutes, mostly from set pieces, but were unable to capitalize on any of them.

The expected goals were heavily in the Gunners' favor despite the penalty, but if you don't take your chances in a big European away game, you're always likely to end up empty-handed.