‘Unacceptable’ – Mikel Arteta called out Arsenal star over late mistake which saw club create unwanted history

Arsenal are hoping lightning doesn’t strike for a fourth consecutive time at home to Olympiacos in Europe. The Gunners welcome the Greek giants to the Emirates on Wednesday night – live on talkSPORT – for the second matchweek of the Champions League. Olympiacos have caused Arsenal – and Mikel Arteta – plenty of pain over the yearsGetty Mikel Arteta’s men edged out Athletic Bilbao last time out in Spain in a gritty 2-0 victory. Meanwhile Olympiacos are seeking their first win in the league phase this term following their 0-0 draw to Cypriot outfit Pafos a fortnight ago. But Gooners know the risk that the Super League side carry. Just mention the club’s name to Arteta and the Spaniard would surely take a sharp intake of breath. How have Arsenal fared against Olympiacos? The two teams have faced each other in Europe on 12 occasions – with each of the meetings coming in the last 16 years. Both clubs have won six matches apiece, with their victories split down the middle in terms of on home soil and on the road. Olympiacos have run out winners at the Emirates in each of their last three visits – with Arteta in charge for two of the defeats. Their first – and last victory in north London in the Champions League – came in September 2015, where they won 3-2 in a five-goal thriller. The result meant that Arsenal had lost their opening two group stage matches in the European Cup for the first time ever. And the Piraeus-based club went on to beat Arsenal in the Europa League knockout stages in England’s capital in both 2020 [Round of 32] and 2021 [last-16]. Olympiacos’ victory at Arsenal in February 2020 remains painful to GoonersGetty Arsenal went into the second leg with a 1-0 advantage following Alexandre Lacazette’s winner in GreeceGetty But it is the February 2020 defeat – just two months into Arteta’s reign in charge – that represented one of the darkest days for Arsenal in Europe. Arsenal had one foot in the last-16 heading into the second leg thanks to Alexandre Lacazette’s late winner at the Karaiskakis Stadium. But the unthinkable happened a week later with Olympiacos emerging 2-1 victors in the reverse fixture to progress into the next round on away goals. It saw Arsenal create unwanted club history by crashing out of Europe for the first time having previously won their 17 previous ties when winning the first leg away from home. Ousseynou Ba forced the game into extra-time after being allowed a free run to head home having got on the end of Mathieu Valbuena’s inswinging corner. An acrobatic effort from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the 113th minute looked to be enough to see Arsenal edge out a 2-1 aggregate win. Bernd Leno’s late error proved costly as Arsenal conceded late on at the EmiratesGetty However, goalkeeper Bernd Leno was culpable of a glaring mistake when he dithered in sending the ball long, resulting in him gifting the visitors a corner. And Olympiacos duly made Leno pay for the error, as Youssef El-Arabi slid in from close range in the 119th minute after Arsenal failed to clear the initial corner. A stunned Arsenal crowd were then left with their head in hands after Aubameyang missed a sitter from seven yards in the third minute of stoppage time. Arteta failed to hide his disappointment following the full-time whistle in what was the first major heartbreak he suffered as a manager. He even called out Leno over his mistake which ultimately proved costly. What did Mikel Arteta say about Bernd Leno? Speaking of the German in his post-match press conference, Arteta said: “Yes, obviously he could have kicked it out, but then there is another situation to defend. Aubameyang could barely believe he had smacked his shot wide in the closing seconds of the matchGetty “It’s not only the first phase, but it’s the second phase of that corner that we concede and the player steps in and just taps in the ball in the six-yard box, which is unacceptable. “It is something that we have to improve on. We’ve done the most difficult thing to react after that, to play against a team with ten men behind the ball in 25 metres. “And even at the end, we had an incredible opportunity to win it. “Had we gone through energy wise, it would have given us a big lift again and [brought] everybody together. “It is a big disappointment and I am right behind the boys, the way they played, the way they tried. “The effort that they put into game was enormous and we have to move forward together.” Arteta will be hoping to guide Arsenal to a first victory over Olympiacos at home since 2012Getty A year later and Olympiacos would once again prevail at the Emirates – winning 1-0 in the last-16 second leg. Though fortunately for Arsenal, they went through to the quarter-finals having won 3-1 in Greece in the first leg. Arsenal go into Wednesday’s clash with O

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‘Unacceptable’ – Mikel Arteta called out Arsenal star over late mistake which saw club create unwanted history

Arsenal are hoping lightning doesn’t strike for a fourth consecutive time at home to Olympiacos in Europe.

The Gunners welcome the Greek giants to the Emirates on Wednesday night – live on talkSPORT – for the second matchweek of the Champions League.

Olympiacos have caused Arsenal – and Mikel Arteta – plenty of pain over the years

Mikel Arteta’s men edged out Athletic Bilbao last time out in Spain in a gritty 2-0 victory.

Meanwhile Olympiacos are seeking their first win in the league phase this term following their 0-0 draw to Cypriot outfit Pafos a fortnight ago.

But Gooners know the risk that the Super League side carry.

Just mention the club’s name to Arteta and the Spaniard would surely take a sharp intake of breath.

How have Arsenal fared against Olympiacos?

The two teams have faced each other in Europe on 12 occasions – with each of the meetings coming in the last 16 years.

Both clubs have won six matches apiece, with their victories split down the middle in terms of on home soil and on the road.

Olympiacos have run out winners at the Emirates in each of their last three visits – with Arteta in charge for two of the defeats.

Their first – and last victory in north London in the Champions League – came in September 2015, where they won 3-2 in a five-goal thriller.

The result meant that Arsenal had lost their opening two group stage matches in the European Cup for the first time ever.

And the Piraeus-based club went on to beat Arsenal in the Europa League knockout stages in England’s capital in both 2020 [Round of 32] and 2021 [last-16].

Olympiacos’ victory at Arsenal in February 2020 remains painful to Gooners

Arsenal went into the second leg with a 1-0 advantage following Alexandre Lacazette’s winner in Greece

But it is the February 2020 defeat – just two months into Arteta’s reign in charge – that represented one of the darkest days for Arsenal in Europe.

Arsenal had one foot in the last-16 heading into the second leg thanks to Alexandre Lacazette’s late winner at the Karaiskakis Stadium.

But the unthinkable happened a week later with Olympiacos emerging 2-1 victors in the reverse fixture to progress into the next round on away goals.

It saw Arsenal create unwanted club history by crashing out of Europe for the first time having previously won their 17 previous ties when winning the first leg away from home.

Ousseynou Ba forced the game into extra-time after being allowed a free run to head home having got on the end of Mathieu Valbuena’s inswinging corner.

An acrobatic effort from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the 113th minute looked to be enough to see Arsenal edge out a 2-1 aggregate win.

Bernd Leno’s late error proved costly as Arsenal conceded late on at the Emirates

However, goalkeeper Bernd Leno was culpable of a glaring mistake when he dithered in sending the ball long, resulting in him gifting the visitors a corner.

And Olympiacos duly made Leno pay for the error, as Youssef El-Arabi slid in from close range in the 119th minute after Arsenal failed to clear the initial corner.

A stunned Arsenal crowd were then left with their head in hands after Aubameyang missed a sitter from seven yards in the third minute of stoppage time.

Arteta failed to hide his disappointment following the full-time whistle in what was the first major heartbreak he suffered as a manager.

He even called out Leno over his mistake which ultimately proved costly.

What did Mikel Arteta say about Bernd Leno?

Speaking of the German in his post-match press conference, Arteta said: “Yes, obviously he could have kicked it out, but then there is another situation to defend.

Aubameyang could barely believe he had smacked his shot wide in the closing seconds of the match

“It’s not only the first phase, but it’s the second phase of that corner that we concede and the player steps in and just taps in the ball in the six-yard box, which is unacceptable.

“It is something that we have to improve on. We’ve done the most difficult thing to react after that, to play against a team with ten men behind the ball in 25 metres.

“And even at the end, we had an incredible opportunity to win it.

“Had we gone through energy wise, it would have given us a big lift again and [brought] everybody together.

“It is a big disappointment and I am right behind the boys, the way they played, the way they tried.

“The effort that they put into game was enormous and we have to move forward together.”

Arteta will be hoping to guide Arsenal to a first victory over Olympiacos at home since 2012

A year later and Olympiacos would once again prevail at the Emirates – winning 1-0 in the last-16 second leg.

Though fortunately for Arsenal, they went through to the quarter-finals having won 3-1 in Greece in the first leg.

Arsenal go into Wednesday’s clash with Olympiacos having won their last seven home Champions League group stage matches.

And they are unbeaten in their previous 12 group fixtures in Europe’s premier competition since losing to Olympiacos in 2015.

But they know that if any team has the capability to dampen the mood at the Emirates in Europe, it’s Olympiacos.