This Thursday was a great night for Mikel Arteta's Arsenal: they thrashed Rapid Vienna and went to the 16th of the Europa League as group winners (they started the day as qualified), but all this in the return of their fans to the stands of the Emirates Stadium (4-1). Some 2,000 followers of the ‘gunner’ team were able to attend the meeting, the first since the start of the pandemic last March.
Arsenal started with a great goal from Alexandre Lacazette in the 10th minute, on a shot from 27.5 meters, to open the way in a game in which Arteta lined up a majority of substitutes.
Among them, Pablo Marí, who, after how badly he suffered due to his injury, touched heaven by scoring Arsenal's second goal with his head, just off a corner. It was the 18th. Marí wore the captain's armband in the final minutes.
Maitland-Niles was about to get the third, but it was Edward Nketiah who marked it, with a header and at 44 '. Rapid dreamed of getting into the match when Japanese Koya Kitagawa closed the gap, who took advantage of a distraction from the London team's defense.
Arsenal had many chances to increase their lead, but Richard Strebinger, the Austrian goalkeeper, made good interventions. Emile Smith Rowe was the author of the definitive 4-1 of Arteta's. The young English half scored in the 66th minute, just 3 minutes after replacing Lacazette. And on Sunday, the 'Gunners' derby against Tottenham.