Arsenal Lose At Bate in Europa League Match

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, Sports News Thursday, February 14th, 2019

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Arsenal suffered a 1-0 defeat at BATE Borisov on a night forward Alexandre Lacazette will want to forget after being sent off late on in the first legs of the Europa League last 32 on Thursday.

Arsenal had scored 10 goals in two matches against BATE Borisov in the same competition in 2017 but never looked like being as prolific in the freezing temperatures of Belarus.

BATE took the lead when Stanislav Dragun nodded a free kick past Arsenal goalkeeper Peter Cech seconds before halftime.

The goal came shortly after Lacazette put a header wide midway through the first half.

The Frenchman thought he had made up for his miss 10 minutes after the break but his effort was ruled out for offside.

To compound his misery Lacazette was shown a red card five minutes from time for felling Aleksandar Filipovic with an elbow after the defender held him back and was also booked.

However, there was no such problem for heavyweights Inter Milan, Sevilla and Benfica as they all won away.