Arsenal suffered an early setback against Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final tie after Laurent Koscielny had to be replaced.
The experienced centre-half would have been key to his side given the hosts went with a front two of Diego Costa and Antoine Griezmann at the Wanda Metropolitano.
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However, his night lasted just 12 minutes as he fell to the ground off the ball in absolute agony as Diego Costa signalled immediately to the referee to stop play.
After writhing around in pain for a couple of minutes, the French international was eventually taken off the pitch on a stretcher and it certainly didn’t look good for him.
As seen in the tweets below, Arsenal fans and pundits alike were fearing the worst for the 32-year-old, not only in terms of his participation for the rest of the season but also his chances of featuring at the World Cup for France this summer.
Given how he sustained the problem with no contact and was seemingly clutching his Achilles as he lay on the floor, it does ultimately look bad for the Arsenal stalwart and while the players will have had to refocus immediately on the game, they’ll be desperately hoping it isn’t as serious as it looks.
Koscielny goes down with an apparent ankle injury, Arsenal forced to use sub early #ATLvAFC #AtletiArsenal #UEL #AFC pic.twitter.com/F9lKdpsIyp
— Jonah Takalua (@Destaquito2) May 3, 2018
Koscielny is breaking my heart right now I’m getting Santi (war) flashbacks
— Iman | ????? (@nana_alaouie) May 3, 2018
Watch the way Koscielny didn’t chase back to Costa when we went through. His achilles was already tight. Now it might have torn. Sad.
— gunnerblog (@gunnerblog) May 3, 2018
That looks like his achilles – Koscielny in tears. Hoping he recovers ?
— ArsenalFanTV (@ArsenalFanTV) May 3, 2018
Koscielny looks in a huge amount of pain here. Hard to tell from where I’m sat but if that is his Achilles, it could be serious. He’s already managing an Achilles problem on a daily basis. He was beating the ground in pain just now. Lengthy stoppage already. Chambers coming on.
— James Olley (@JamesOlley) May 3, 2018
So upsetting to see Laurent Koscielny in such pain… looks like the face of a man who’s realising he will likely miss the World Cup right before his scheduled international retirement.
— Get French Football (@GFFN) May 3, 2018
Koscielny been nursing an Achilles for more than a year, hope that’s not as bad as it looks…
— John Cross (@johncrossmirror) May 3, 2018
Looks like a serious injury for Laurent Koscielny. What a shame in a big game like this and just 6 weeks before the World Cup.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) May 3, 2018
Poor Koscielny, that’s him out for 9 months.
— Le Grove (@LeGrove) May 3, 2018
Seeing Koscielny in this much pain is hard to watch… Get well soon Bosscielny! ??
— Lacazette FC (@Lacazest) May 3, 2018
World Cup dreams over for Laurent Koscielny? Quite possibly….
I’m speculating it’s an Achilles rupture. #AFC ? @EuropaLeague ? pic.twitter.com/SKavYI4AtW
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) May 3, 2018