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Late Penalty Gives Arsenal Hope In Europa League

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Unai Emery’s Villarreal took a big step towards the coach getting revenge over former side Arsenal as they won 2-1 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday.

Manu Trigueros and Raul Albiol got the goals for the LaLiga Santander side before Nicolas Pepe pulled back through a penalty in the second half. The Gunners’ task wasn’t helped by Spaniard Dani Ceballos getting sent off with more than 30 minutes to play, though Etienne Capoue was given his marching orders to even things up for the final 10.

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Villarreal got themselves in front after just five minutes. Samuel Chukwueze did well on the right before getting into the box. Unable to go any further, the ball found its way to Trigueros and he fired into the bottom corner.

Chances came and went for Arsenal before their deficit had doubled. This time Gerard Moreno was the creator as he flicked Dani Parejo’s header on to Raul Albiol and the defender, unmarked, finished it off.

The Gunners looked to have won a penalty fairly shortly, though a VAR check saw the on-field decision overruled. Arsenal’s night was made all the more complicated when Ceballos was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Parejo, but the visiting players protested the decision.

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Villarreal then had chances to kill the game, and possibly the tie, but passed them up before Arsenal were awarded a penalty when Trigueros brought Bukayo Saka down. Pepe stepped up and scored a crucial away goal for the Premier League side.

Saka was again involved as Capoue brought him down to earn a second yellow card of his own, levelling the playing field for the game’s last 10 minutes.

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