English Premier League side Arsenal went down by a solitary goal to Belarus side BATE Borisov in a Europa League tie staged in Belarus in the night of Thursday 14 February.
Arsenal started brightly with Iwobi in the second minute playing a superb angled pass inside the box to find Kolasinac, who slid the first-time pass across the face of goal. It was right into the path of Mkhitaryan, whose close-range sidefoot was blocked by the sprawling Scherbitski.
Despite the attacks by the English side, BATE was comfortable with waiting and hitting them on the counter and they almost broke through when Guendouzi slipped on the dodgy pitch and lost the ball to Skavysh, who broke down the right with Xhaka pulling him back to earn a yellow card.
Bate was to take the lead in the dying minutes of the first half when Stasevich curled free-kick towards the near post found Drahun who had escaped his marker Kolasinac to loop a smart header over Petr Cech from eight yards as the hosts went to the break tails high.
Arsenal started the second half with renewed intensity. Iwobi floated a cross to the far post that evaded the leaping Mkhitaryan and Maitland-Niles before Lacazette whipped in a long-range shot that was patted down by Scherbitski before the keeper claimed it in the second attempt.
Arsenal thought they had restored parity ten minutes after resumption through Lacazette but the assistant referee flag was already up. Kolasinac’s low cross was put behind for a corner. Bate thought the last touch was off Iwobi, and replays suggested they were right. The corner was taken short and eventually led to a disallowed goal from Lacazette, who slammed Kolasinac’s cross into the net from six yards. The replays showed that the Frenchman was fractionally offside.
The tired legs of the BATE players continued to show and their resort in sitting back seemed to have been frustrating the visitors. The frustration from the hosts got the better of Lacazette who was shown a straight red card five minutes from time after pulling a retaliatory elbow into the face of Filipovic and despite an additional four minutes, Arsenal could not find a way past the hosts.