Arsenal 1-1 Atletico Madrid: Gunners fail to beat 10 men

Arsenal will be disappointed to have drawn the first leg of their Europa League semi-final at home to Atletico Madrid on Thursday evening after the La Liga outfit were reduced to 10 men after only10 minutes.

Croatian full-back Sime Vrsaljko was shown two yellow cards in the opening 10 minutes of the game, first for a foul on Jack Wilshere after only two minutes and the second for bringing down Alexandre Lacazette eight minutes later.

Diego Simeone’s side showed good defence up against the 74% of possession Arsenal had but were finally undone on the hour when Lacazette out-jumped Theo Hernandez to head the Gunners in front.

However, Arsenal shot themselves in the foot when Nacho Monreal played Antoine Griezmann onside in the final 10 minutes.  The French striker got the better of Laurent Koscielny before coolly finishing past David Ospina to earn Atleti a draw and away goal to take back to the Wanda Metropolitano next Thursday.

In the other Europa League semi-final on Thursday Marseille were 2-0 winners at home to Red Bull Salzburg.