‘You could hear the scream’: Rapid coach wanted Arsenal man sent off on Thursday

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Rapid Vienna coach Didi Kuhbauer felt Eddie Nketiah should have been sent off during Arsenal’s 2-1 Europa League victory on Thursday, while speaking to LAOLA1.

Mikel Arteta’s side certainly rode their luck in Austria.

After Bernd Leno gifted Rapid’s in-form striker Taxiarchis Fountas the opener with a stray pass, the home side missed a host of chances to put the game to bed.

In the blink of an eye, Arsenal turned a disappointing performance around with two goals in four second-half minutes.

David Luiz’s opener was followed up almost immediately by a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang tap-in, as a flowing buildup involving Mo Elneny and Hector Bellerin carved the Rapid defence apart like a tender Christmas turkey.

And Kuhbauer was left wondering what might have been at full-time, especially after Nketiah avoided a red card for throwing an elbow into the face of Filip Stojkovic.

“Stojkovic is a very tough player. He doesn’t go down for no reason. The linesman and fourth assistant told me that they hadn’t seen anything (after the Nketiah challenge) – I have to believe them,” Kuhbauer complained.

“But you could still hear the scream down to the last seat (in the dugout). The decision by the referee could not be understood.”

Kuhbauer also felt that Rapid should have had a penalty at the start of the second ’45 after the ball struck Bukayo Saka’s arm inside the penalty area.

“A clear penalty was not given in the second half,” he added. “The movement clearly went with the hand to the ball. With a 2-0 lead, the story would have been even more difficult for Arsenal.”