Emery Admits Sokratis’ Red Card Makes it Difficult for Arsenal to Play Well Against Rennes

DBasia.news –  Arsenal failed to reach victory while visiting Roazhon Park, the headquarters of Stade Rennais, in the continued leg of the last 16 Europa League, Friday (8/3) WIB.

In the match which ended 3-1, the Gunners opened the first scoring through Alex Iwobi’s goal in the fourth minute, but then they had to play with 10 players after Sokratis got two yellow cards in the 34th and 41st minutes.

Leading with the number of players made Rennes have  better control of the match and equalized the position one minute later through Benjamin Bourigeaud. Luck really sided with the visitors, they scored two additional goals through Ismaila Sarr and Nacho Monreal’s own goal.

In response to the defeat of his team, Unai Emery as the manager finally spoke up on the matter. The Spanish manager admitted that the Gunners had difficulty controlling the game after playing with 10 people.

“Arsenal managed to control the game for 40 minutes, but the situation was different after the red card obtained by Sokratis. When I scored 2-1, I also thought the team would have difficulty to achieve the targeted results,” Emery said as quoted by Goal.

“Kami ingin tetap mempertahankan keunggulan dengan cara menguasai bola dan mencari peluang untuk melakukan transisi, ​Arsenal kemudian memiliki peluang melalui Mesut Ozil, tetapi itu tidak cukup,” tambahnya.

The failure of the club based at Emirates Stadium won the match and have made them be faced with a difficult situation in the second leg, reportedly Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and his mates must score at least three goals if they still want to qualify for the quarter-finals.

After this match, tough hurdles seemed to have stayed with the Gunners, they will entertain one of their eternal rivals, Manchester United in the continuation of the 30th Premier League match on Sunday (10/3).