Arsenal were mediocre at best in their first-leg defeat at the hands of BATE Borisov in the Europa League round of 32. Stanislav Dragun scored the only goal of the game to seal a famous win for the Belarusian side, who did more than enough to deserve this moment.
On the other hand, Unai Emery’s men lacked creativity, speed in action and looked nervy at the back every time the opposition went forward. The goal came at the stroke of half-time when Igor Stasevich delivered a great ball in from a set-piece. Dragun did well to lose his marker and find some space to head the ball into the back of the net.
Arsenal responded a bit early in the second half and had a goal disallowed when Sead Kolasinac found Alexandre Lacazette with a good ball at the near post and the Frenchman dispatched the chance with aplomb. However, the offside flag went up, much to the frustration of the striker. The decision was right though.
Five minutes from time, Lacazette was grappled by Filipenko, and he responded by lashing an elbow at the defender. The referee had no choice but to send off the Arsenal man.
At the end of the day, it was not an acceptable display from the Gunners, who now have some work to do before they make a comeback in this tie. They will have to do all that without Lacazette now.
Here’s how their fans reacted on Twitter:
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