Laurent Koscielny has had a night to forget for France this evening.
Ever since Laurent Koscielny got sent off and gave away that penalty against Manchester City in January he has emerged a different player. Forming a fantastic partnership with Per Mertesacker the Arsenal back-line has looked reformed.
But Gunners fans know that every now and again the former Lorient defender has a tendency to go slightly off book every now and again.
Tonight France faced Ukraine in the away leg of their FIFA World Cup play-off – and found themselves up against a team fired up by national expectation.
And they lost, 2-0, thanks to goals from Roman Zozulya and Andriy Yarmolenko which leaves Les Bleus on the verge of elimination.
And to be honest, a lot of it was Koscielny’s fault.
He gave away the penalty for the second goal, with a typically rash challenge on Zozulya, which Yarmolenko smashed in off the underside of the bar.
Then, just to put the icing on this rather foul tasting cake, he lashed out at Olek Kuchar in the 90th minute to receive his marching orders.
Arsenal will hope all his poor performances are now out his system for a while…
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
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