In the 17th minute of this evening’s Europa League tie between Slavia Prague and Arsenal, the ball was flicked into Emile Smith Rowe on the edge of the box by Alexandre Lacazette.
Smith Rowe showed his unbelievable quality with some lovely dribbling to fool one of Slavia’s players, fooling the ace with a dummy and then jinking past another of the Prague outfit’s stars.
The 20-year-old then megged another one of the Czech Republic team’s players to slip the ball to Nicolas Pepe, who stayed composed, took the ball wide, before slotting it into the net.
Smith Rowe’s fine work shows the ace’s character, he didn’t let a disallowed goal via a lengthy VAR check moments early knock him down.
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Pepe goals
Slavia prague 0:1 Arsenal (1:2) aggpic.twitter.com/U6myXl6iIH#UEL#SLAARS— Bashka?? ? (@__bashir__bashy) April 15, 2021
Pictures from beIN Sports and Polsat Sport.
The VAR decision seemed like a sign that it may not be the Gunners’ night, but Mikel Arteta’s men maintained their confidence and are reaping the rewards for doing so.