Sports

Europa: Mikel Arteta blames Arsenal player as Gunners crash out to Olympiakos

Published

5 years ago

February 28, 2020

Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta has blamed his goalkeeper, Bernd Leno for his side 2-1 loss to Olympiakos in the Europa League on Thursday.

He said the German could have done better after conceding from a set-piece toward the end of the match

The result meant that the Gunners have crashed out of the competition in the hands of the Greek team.

Arteta described the late winner which ended Arsenal Europa League campaign as “unacceptable.”

Youssef El-Arabi scored in 119th minute for Olympiacos at the Emirates as they won 2-1 on the night to progress to the last 16 on away goals.

The goal came from a needless corner kick conceded by Leno as the Arsenal keeper invited pressure rather than kicking the ball away.

Arteta admitted the Germany goal tender could have done better.

He also blamed the other players for failing to clear the resulting corner.

“Yes, obviously he could have kicked it out, but then there is another situation to defend,” said Arteta.

“It’s not only the first phase but it’s the second phase of that corner that we concede and the player steps in and just taps in the ball in the six-yard box, which is unacceptable.”