Arsenal has been held to a 1-1 draw by Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final, despite playing against 10 men for the majority of Thursday’s match at the Emirates Stadium.
Atletico defender Sime Vrsaljko was dismissed for two yellow cards after just 10 minutes but despite Alexandre Lacazette giving Arsenal the lead, a late goal from Antoine Griezmann has swung the tie in the La Liga side’s favour.
However, shortly after the hour mark, Arsenal finally found the breakthrough.
Monreal won the back just outside of the area and after Wilshere advanced into the penalty area and floated a cross towards Lacazette, the striker did the rest with a header into the corner from eight yards out.
Griezmann latched onto a ball over the top and although his initial shot after capitalising on poor defending from Laurent Koscielny was saved, the ball ricocheted back into his path and a second effort from close range found the roof of the net via Shkodran Mustafi.
Agency Report