Arsenal, Valencia players almost came to blows
Arsenal and Valencia players came to blows in the closing stages of their Europa League semi-final second leg on Thursday night.
The Gunners booked their place in the final thanks to a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hattrick and a goal from Alexandre Lacazette, although Kevin Gameiro did score twice for the Spaniards to spark hope of a comeback.
However, with the tie drawing to a conclusion at the Mestalla, there were ugly scenes in the corner on the near side as tempers flared between both sets of players.
The skirmish seemed to involve Arsenal youngster Ainsley Maitland-Niles and former Gunners defender Gabriel Paulista.
Footage seemed to show them grabbing a hold of each other's shirts as their team-mates raced in between them to break things up.
The full-time whistle was blown during the melee and footage cut to Unai Emery and Marcelino shaking hands on the touchline.
Maitland-Niles and Gabriel both received yellow cards for their roles in the fracas but the incident was quickly resolved and Arsenal went on to celebrate their famous win.
Having led 3-1 from the first leg, Emery's side were favourites to advance and got the better of a back-and-forth contest with a 7-3 aggregate success.
In a week of English comebacks in the Champions League, Aubameyang's goals made sure Arsenal were not on the receiving end of another.
Despite falling behind to Gameiro's 11th-minute effort, the Gunners rallied as Aubameyang equalised and Lacazette struck to put them ahead on the night and in control of the tie.
Gameiro, who was part of Emery's Sevilla side who won three successive Europa League titles, continued his fine scoring run in the competition with another - only for Aubameyang to add the gloss with two more efforts.
Emery, who has not lost a knockout tie in this competition since he was in charge of Valencia in 2012, knows he needs to win the same title in Baku on May 29 to seal a Champions League return for Arsenal in his first season at the helm.