Ceramica Stadium was the place where Arsenal visited Villarreal in the Europa League semifinals. We have tonight’s player ratings.
In what we expected to be a historic night for Arsenal against Villarreal, the Gunners fell short at Ceramica stadium this evening. The Europa League semifinals continued in Spain with a surprising win from the ‘Yellow Submarine’. In a few weeks where the North London club was asking to be part of the European Super League, they come and lose against one of the rejected clubs.
Manu Trigueros and Raul Albiol made sure that the Gunners didn’t have a chance to get back in the game in due time. As some of you may know, Villarreal are a tough team to beat when they have an advantage. They defend their result pretty well and Arsenal was no different. All they needed was that clear advantage and they were set for the return leg. Unfortunately, a single goal difference isn’t enough during a semifinal.
Two reds cards in the second half.
Arsenal got the short end of the stick first during the second half as Ceballos got sent off for a second yellow card. They played with one less footballer until the 80th minute, when Capoue also got sent off on Villarreal’s side. Nicolas Pepe was able to capitalize a penalty on Arsenal’s side in order to give some hope to the Gunners for the return leg. This result may be disappointing for Arteta’s boys but it still gives them a chance to get to the final. We’ll see how things fare when they meet next Thursday at Emirates Stadium. What did you think about this result in La Ceramica tonight? It seems Unai Emery got a small revenge for what he got during his time at Arsenal but the war isn’t over yet.
Player ratings
Villarreal: Rulli (6), Albiol (7), Torres (6), Foyth (6), Capoue (4), Parejo (6), Trigueros (7), Pedraza (6), Chukwueze (7), Alcacer (6), Moreno (7).
Bench: Coquelin (6), Gaspar (6), Moreno (7), Gomez (6).
Arsenal: Leno (5), Mari (5), Chambers (5), Holding (5), Xhaka (6), Partey (6), Odegaard (5), Ceballos (3), Smith-Rowe (6), Saka (6), Pepe (7).
Bench: Martinelli (6), Aubameyang (6), Willian (5), Elneny (5).
Feel free to make your pick on player’s ratings and performances using the widget below.
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