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Scored: Fountas (51) – David Luiz (70); Aubameyang (74)
Without a doubt, Arsenal wants to conquer the throne of the Europa League after approaching the championship twice in the 2017/18 season (in the semi-finals) and 2018/19 (final).
Of course, that task will not be easy because the Europa League this season has the presence of many great names, from Milan, Benfica, Napoli, Roma, Leverkusen to two compatriots Tottenham and Leicester. It is not known which team will exit the Champions League (teams ranked third in the final group stage of the Champions League will advance to the Europa League from the 1/16 round).
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| Rapid Vienna vs Arsenal |
In the opening match of the 2020/21 Europa League, Arsenal will be a guest of Rapid Wien, the Austrian team in extremely impressive form: unbeaten 7/8 official matches this season (6 won). In the Europa League alone, they only lost 1/9 of the last home game (against Inter Milan).
However, before this match, Arsenal had to endure a dense and fierce appointment, when they continually faced Leicester, Liverpool (twice) and Man City on many fronts. Not to mention the achievements of the last period (winning 1, drawing 1 and losing 2) but it really squeezed the strength of the pillars in the hands of coach Arteta.
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| Arsenal start list |
Thus, unsurprisingly, in this season’s Europa League opener at Rapid Wien, the Spaniard gave many substitute players or young talents the opportunity. Rookie Thomas Partey was sent off after he came on as a substitute in a 0-1 loss to Man City a few days ago.
In addition, Sead Kolasinac, Cedric Soares, Lacazette, Elneny or Eddie Nketiah are present on the starting list so that Kieran Tierney, Héctor Bellerin, Xhaka, Ceballos, Aubameyang or Willian have the opportunity to rest either on the bench or … in home (for not being on the list to register to play).
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| Arsenal were extremely stagnant and vanished in the first half |
Compared to Man City’s defeat, only 5 names continued to plow through, including goalkeeper Leno, midfielder David Luiz vs. Gabriel Magalhaes, forward Nicolas Pepe and left winger Bukayo Saka.
Arsenal entered the game at a moderate pace, although it was not difficult to dominate the field. However, after the first half of the first part, “The Gunners” did not have a single situation.
Exactly in the first half, Arsenal only created a few sporadic chances for the home team’s goal and overall it was extremely stagnant. Even last time out, they were pressured by the home team and Rapid Wien had some really dangerous situations. Fortunately for Arsenal, the host player does not handle himself well.
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| Rapid Wien took the lead after goalkeeper Leno’s unforgivable mistake |
Most notably, the ball took place in the 42nd minute as the ball was stretched through the 16m50 area for Ercan Kara and the 1996-born forward controlled the spin to hit the left but very imprecise.
Going into the second half, Rapid Wien stood out in the lead in the 51st minute. The host players pressed directly into Arsenal’s 16m50 area and it was unclear if that was why goalkeeper Bernd Leno made a phase error. kicking. up. Kara grabbed the ball and pushed Fountas with a little more assertiveness, sending the ball into the visiting net.
Leading the table, of course, Arsenal had to frantically prepare the squad to attack to equalize, but compared to the first half, the attacking power of the “Gunners” still did not improve much.
Not only that, in the 59th minute, goalkeeper Leno continued to mishandle in another throw-in situation, but this time, fortunately, he was able to correct the error by rejecting the shot because the player opened the scoring. Fountas done.
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| David Luiz’s powerful header tied 1-1 |
Coach Arteta was also forced to put the pillars on the field to turn things around, and indeed Arsenal’s style of play gradually improved. In the 70th minute, the representative of the Premier League found a table to equalize. Nicolas Pepe hung the ball in the 16m50 area from a free kick down the right wing and midfielder David Luiz turned high for a precise header against Rapid Wien.
A short time later, Bernd Leno again made his mark on the party, still on the negative side. Not that this goalkeeper went very far from goal to soon extinguish the opponent’s offensive intention, but it was an extremely amateur blocking. On this occasion, it was thanks to the support of Magalhaes vs David Luiz by putting positive pressure on Fountas, the new Arsenal network did not vibrate for the second time.
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| The two pillars entered the field in the second half, Bellerin vs Aubameyang combined to bring the decisive goal for Arsenal |
In this game, Arsenal’s attackers are as bad as Leno, they don’t know what will happen to the visitors. In the 74th minute, Elneny slashed Bellerin’s armpit on the right wing and the defender reached out for Aubameyang to easily finish off the empty net from close range, increasing the score to 2-1.
The time remaining is long enough for Rapid Wien to find a draw, but once Bernd Leno is no longer “sold” the home team has to give up because their capacity is limited, far behind the guests. In the end, Arsenal came home with a less convincing 2-1 win, but better than nothing.
TEAM
QUICK VIENNA (3-4-3): Richard Strebinger; Filip Stojkovic, Maximilian Hofmann, Mateo Barac; Kelvin Arase (Schick 79 ‘), Dejan Ljubicic (capt), Srdan Grahovac, Maximilian Ullmann; Ercan Kara (Kitagawa 76 ‘), Marcel Ritzmaier (Knasmullner 88’), Taxiarchis Fountas.
ARSENAL (4-4-2): Bernd Leno; Cedric Soares (Bellerin 61 ‘), David Luiz, Gabriel Magalhaes, Sead Kolasinac; Nicolas Pepe (Nelson 90 ‘+ 4), Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny, Bukayo Saka (Schick 84’); Alexandre Lacazette (Willock 84 ‘), Eddie Nketiah (Aubameyang 61’).
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