Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits he regrets taking off Robert Pires during the 2006 Champions League final defeat to Barcelona.

"I feel sorry for having done it, sorry for him," Wenger told arsenal.com.

"But I had to take one offensive player out without taking [Thierry] Henry out because we had to play on the counter-attack. You keep your strongest, quickest player in the team on the pitch.

"Maybe [I regret it], it's very difficult to say. We were left with Hleb and Fabregas, who were offensive, Ljungberg as well - then Gilberto. We had already one defender left in there."