Rennes 3-1 Arsenal: Ten-man Gunners left on the brink of Europa League exit [Tweets]

Arsenal are staring at the possibility of an exit from the Round of 16 stage of the UEFA Europa League, after they were beaten 3-1 by Ligue 1 side Rennes in the first leg.

Arsenal began the away leg on a fine note, as they were up and running just three minutes into the game courtesy of a brilliant curling strike from Alex Iwobi. Lucas Torreira and Shkodran Mustafi came close to doubling the Gunners’ lead, but the former’s effort was saved, while the latter’s shot drifted wide.

Rennes were given a huge boost when Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos received his marching orders for a second yellow card in the 41st minute. A minute later, the home team were on level terms with Benjamin Bourigeaud reacting the fastest to strike home a rebound after the initial free-kick had been saved.

The hosts amped up the pressure on Unai Emery’s team after the break, with Petr Cech called into action early in the second period. Despite Arsenal’s efforts, they were unable to keep Rennes at bay as an own goal from Nacho Monreal made it 2-1, before Ismaila Sarr scored a brilliant driving header late on to heap further misery on the Gunners.

The result leaves Arsenal on the brink of an exit from the Europa League, although they will back themselves to bounce back strongly, having lost the first leg in the previous round as well. The Gunners’ supporters though, weren’t pleased with the performance and here’s how they reacted to the defeat on social media.

Sokratis’ sending off proved to be the turning point in the game and the Arsenal supporters seem to be split on whether the Greek centre-half deserved to be shown a yellow card for the foul on Sarr.


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