BATE Borisov 1-0 Arsenal: Gunners suffer a shock defeat in Belarus
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:
Even rival fans deserves to mock us for this performance
— Dammit Arsenal🤦 (@DammitArsenal) February 14, 2019
Guendouzi gave the ball away 15 times in that game. Don’t ever compare him to Fabregas again
— Harrison Utton (@Harry_Utton) February 14, 2019
From today I started hating Iwobi 100% never happened before with any Arsenal player he is not even sub Arsenal quality. Please please in the summer get a proper left wing so we don’t have to watch this kind of performance!
— Rusu Adrian (@Rusu_Adrian) February 14, 2019
Everyone took creative football under Wenger for granted and kept slagging him off. I hope people realize his value now. Everything is not as easy as it may seem on the outside
— Kunal Sheth (@KunalSheth96) February 14, 2019
Every single travelling fan should be reimbursed for that performance, absolute disgrace!
— Aarön (@AaronDickinson) February 14, 2019
And the banter era continues…🤧
— Matt🙎🏻♂️ (@Mattmarsdenn) February 14, 2019