Unai Emery has slammed the ‘grotesque’ penalty that Bukayo Saka won for Arsenal last night.
Arsenal threw themselves a big lifeline by scoring an away goal in their 2-1 defeat by Villarreal in the first leg of a Europa League semi-final.
Mikel Arteta’s side were trailing by two goals at the break and had Dani Ceballos sent off early in the second half as the Gunners looked to be staring down the barrel.
But Nicolas Pepe scored a 73rd-minute penalty to grab a potentially huge away goal and give Arteta’s side a chance of turning the tie around in North London next week.
Emery told a post-match press conference, via Hayters TV [38:30]: “I think there were some grotesque details, like the penalty which was really bad for us.”
It was a controversial decision to award Arsenal the penalty, it has to be said.
The Premier League side were already denied a first-half penalty after Pepe was adjudged to have handled the ball prior to being taken down by Tottenham Hotspur loanee Juan Foyth.
But television replays of the second incident suggested that Saka might’ve been intentionally playing for the spot kick and perhaps a tad guilty of simulation, with a lot of rival fans on Twitter criticising the 19-year-old winger.
Emery was the man who gave Saka his debut at Arsenal back in 2019 but by slamming the penalty decision, the Spanish coach, who has won this competition three times, is also sort of casting doubt on his former player’s honesty if he alleges that there were ‘grotesque’ elements to the decision.
In any case, fans of the Emirates Stadium outfit won’t care one iota.
Even if Saka did intentionally try and win the penalty, his team badly needed a bit of inspiration from somewhere and the young England international provided it, no matter how you look at it.
At 2-0, the tie is effectively over, but at 2-1, Arteta’s side have a chance of turning this around.
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