Arsenal were absolutely shocked tonight in UEFA Europa League action as they fell 1-0 at Bate Borisov, a tiny Belarusian club. Bate has just a tiny fraction of the resources that the London giants do, but here they are heading to London a week from tonight up 1-0 on aggregate in the round of 32 tie.
The misery is compounded by the fact that one of their primary weapons, striker Alexandre Lacazette, was sent off in the 85′ and will now miss the next leg due to his red card. Lacazette threw an elbow late, and the call was very cut and dry. He was well aware of his being in the wrong and issued an apology to fans via social media:
Letting the team down like that is the worst feeling..
I should have stayed calm but it’s not always easy.. Sorry ?
There are still 90 minutes to play and I believe that my teammates will make it to the next round.. #COYG #Laca— Alexandre Lacazette (@LacazetteAlex) February 14, 2019
“I didn’t see the action [Lacazette’s foul] but we need to control the frustration,” Arsenal manager Unai Emery told his post match news conference.
“It’s bad news, this red card. Next week we won’t play with [Lacazette]. But it gives chances for another player.”
In regards to the aforementioned disparity in resources, check out this statistic below:
Arsenal paid £46.5million for Alexandre Lacazette, that's more than four times the amount BATE Borisov have spent in their entire history.
FT: BATE Borisov 1-0 Arsenal pic.twitter.com/hsoUUdvEgh
— bet365 (@bet365) February 14, 2019
When Emery said another player will get his chances, you can bet it won’t be Mesut Ozil, who the Gunners boss admitted was a healthy scratch before the game.
Whatever is going on in the feud between Ozil and Emery, its in the best interests of both to try and resolve it and soon. The highest salaried player in club history going through training all week, only to sit on the bench, or in this case not even travel to the match, does no good for anybody involved.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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