Mikaël Silvestre has accused Patrice Evra of showing Arsenal a lack of respect after the Manchester United defender labelled their Champions League semi-final as being a case of "men against children".

Silvestre believes that his compatriot was misguided in his comments, which didn't do justice to Arsenal's senior players. "I think it is a lack of respect to players like Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor or Robin van Persie," Silvestre told Le Parisien. "They are not babies, they are over 25."

The 31-year-old French international, who signed for Arsenal last summer after nine years at Old Trafford, also believes that if Arsenal had their full complement of players available then the semi-final might have had a different outcome.

"For sure, conceding a goal early in the game was a blow, but we have to remember that we were without William Gallas, Gael Clichy and Andrey Arshavin," he said.

"It would have been a different story if they had been there. It is up to us to show next season that he [Evra] is wrong and that Arsenal can win silverware playing our football."