Watch: Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles concedes rib-tickling own goal vs Barcelona in their pre-season friendly encounter.
Arsenal have so far, arguably had the best summer transfer amongst all English Premier league sides. Not only have they bought in key signings for different positions but they’ve also been brilliant throughout their pre-season.
The North London side lost only once in full time across all their friendly matches with a solitary loss coming to Lyon. (Their loss to Real Madrid came through penalties). That was well until today when Barcelona beat them 2-1. However, the score line would have been a more respectable 1-1 if it were not for Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ comedic error.
Arsenal scored their only goal through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s clinical finish in the 36th minute. The Gabonese striker cleanly collected a pass from Mesut Ozil before placing the ball in the nets like he has done so many times in the past. The first half ended with Barcelona trailing.
Aubameyang’s goal to put Arsenal 1-0 up vs Barcelona. [@Hugooow_PT] pic.twitter.com/h5fpE96ExZ
— Arsenal TSN (@ArsenalTSN) August 4, 2019
Arsenal looked set to win the game. However, a comedy of errors bought Barcelona back into the game. The ball had ricocheted off Luis Suarez’s foot towards Ainsley Maitland-Niles. The youngster then calmly passed the ball to the keeper. The keeper though, was not anticipating the pass and had instead moved towards the 21-year old resulting in the ball missing the goalkeeper and finding its way to the goal instead.
Watch: Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles concedes rib-tickling own goal vs Barcelona
Barcelona 2 – 1 Arsenal. Whoever bewitched Arsenal is still alive. A very 'stupid' own goal to concede. pic.twitter.com/PgUTmXqu3w
— DAN SUDI (@Dan_Sudi) August 4, 2019
Luis Suarez closed all the doors on Arsenal when he scored the 90th minute winner. The Gunners were left to rue the one mistake that allowed Barcelona to stage a comeback in the match. With the EPL soon approaching though, the North London side will have to put this disappointment behind them and look for redemption in the harsh travails of the English top flight now.
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