The Ukrainian defender of London "Arsenal" Alexander Zinchenko was in the epicenter of one of the episodes of the first match of the 1/8 finals of Europa League against Sporting Lisbon, which took place yesterday in the Portuguese capital.
After William Saliba opened the scoring after a corner in the 22nd minute of the match, leading Arsenal, the 26-year-old Ukrainian decided to clarify relations with the captain of Sporting Sebastian Coates, who played personally with Zinchenko during this standard situation. Everything turned into a skirmish, as a result of which both players received a yellow card.
This is the fourth caution for the Ukrainian midfielder of Arsenal after moving to the club before the beginning of the current season.
It should be added that Zinchenko failed to distinguish himself in the match with Sporting and was substituted on the 63rd minute of the match. The Ukrainian earned 7.0 rating from WhoScored, which is the average for Arsenal (the lowest - 5.9, the highest - 8.2).
Europa League. 1/8 finals. First match.
"Sporting" (Lisbon, Portugal) - "Arsenal (London, England) - 2:2 (1:1)
Goals: Inacio (34), Paulinho (55) - Saliba (22), Morita (62, auto goal)
"Arsenal: Turner, White, Keever (Gabriel, 71), Saliba, Zinchenko (Tomiyasu, 63), Jaka, Jorginho (Parti, 71), Fabio Vieira, Saka, Nelson (Smith-Rowe, 71), Martinelli.
Warnings: Coates (23), Martinelli (43) - Zinchenko (23), Morita (58)
This season, Zinchenko played for Arsenal in 24 games in all competitions, appearing in the starting lineup on 19 occasions. He has one goal and two assists.