Montpellier HSC manager Rene Girard has admitted that his side struggled to cope physically against Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Second-half goals from Jack Wilshere and Lukas Podolski gave the Gunners a 2-0 win over the Ligue 1 champions, and sealed their place in the knockout stages of the tournament.

After going into the break level, Girard feels that Montpellier failed to deal with the English outfit as the game went on.

"Over the 90 minutes we played well but lacked a bit of consistency. We were good in the first half in terms of aggression and forward runs, but we were just lacking something going forward," said Girard.

"We particularly saw that in the second half and we began to physically struggle towards the end of the game.

"Perhaps it was one match too far for us this evening given the number of injuries and players we had missing. We gave everything we could and I was very happy with our attitude, but if we can't score goals, then it does, of course, become more difficult."

Montpellier currently sit bottom of Group B.