Slavia Prague Accuses Arsenal of Time-Wasting in Champions League Defeat
Slavia Prague has accused Arsenal of time-wasting during their 3-0 defeat in the Champions League on Tuesday evening. Mikel Arteta’s side secured their fourth consecutive win in the competition with Bukayo Saka opening the scoring from the penalty spot, followed by two goals from Mikel Merino in the second half. Arsenal also achieved their eighth clean sheet in a row, matching a club record set in 1903.
However, Slavia captain Lukas Provod believes that Arsenal were allowed to run down the clock in the second half. “Arsenal prepare for set-pieces for a long time, we knew that,” Provod said. “When they were leading, they didn’t rush anywhere, the referee didn’t rush them. I guess that’s a compliment for us too.”
Slavia was also dissatisfied with Azerbaijani referee Aliyar Aghayev over his decision to award a penalty after Gabriel Magalhaes’ flick hit Provod’s hand. “I was in charge of Gabriel, which is a tough one, so I was 100 per cent focused on defending him,” Provod explained. “The ball went from his head to my head and then into my hand. I prayed that VAR wouldn’t rule it out, which rarely happens. I don’t know exactly what the rule is when the ball goes from my head to my hand. Unfortunately, it was a penalty.”
“In the first situation, he [the referee] told me that it went from Gabriel’s head to my hand. Which wasn’t true.”
Slavia head coach, Jindrich Trpisovsky, added: “The referee told us that it was a hand above the head, Provi said that he first hit the ball with his head and it went into his hand, which would have been a violation, but this does not apply when the hand is above the shoulder.”
Despite his complaints about Arsenal’s time-wasting, Provod was full of praise for Arteta’s side. “They are one of the best, if not the best team in the world,” Provod said. “They have a lot of quality, we see it in the Premier League, how they decide games. We didn’t deal with it badly, the result is cruel for us. They didn’t create that much. We were active, our DNA was there.”
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