Angers, who finished 13th in Ligue 1 last season, have never actually won a trophy in their 100 year history, although they did get to French Cup Final a couple of years ago, but they put up a spirited fight against the Young Gunners with Jeff Reine-Adelaide in the line-up for them.
Here is the official line-up….
The French side took the lead after just 15 minutes, with Farid El-Melali smartly going around Martinez before slotting the ball into the net. They were totally in control for most of the half and were unlucky not to go 2-0 up but the goal was judged to be offside. Martinez was definitely our Man Of The First Half and Angers were definitely worthy of the lead at the break.
But the second half belonged to Arsenal after Emery took off Chambers, Monreal and Medley to change the defensive setup. The Gunners quickly equalized in a messy goal from Reiss Nelson and after another 20 minutes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan came on, but we couldn’t put ourselves in front although Aubz did get the ball in the net. That one was disallowed but shortly after he skied an easy chance as usual!
There was not much action after that and we limped onward to a penalty shoot-out, but here are the highlights from the 90 minutes….
Enjoy!
If you still want more, here is the penalty shoot-out in full, with Maitland-Niles confidently putting away the opener. You can watch the rest here, and it was poor Reine-Adelaide that missed the decisive one to give Arsenal the game…