Outgunned:
Arsenal’s Nacho Monreal scoring an own goal past goalkeeper Petr Cech in the Europa League last-16 first-leg match against Rennes in France on Thursday. Arsenal lost 3-1. Inset: Chelsea’s Pedro celebrating with Willian after scoring the first goal in the 3-0 win over Dynamo Kiev.
LONDON: Rennes earned a 3-1 victory over 10-man Arsenal to take control of their Europa League last-16 clash in the first leg.
Arsenal went ahead in Brittany through Alex Iwobi, but after Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent off for two bookings in the first half, the French side hit back.
Benjamin Bourigeaud equalised, Nacho Monreal scored an own goal and the electric Ismaila Sarr headed home near the end to tilt the tie in Rennes’ favour.
Elsewhere, five-time record winners Sevilla shared a 2-2 draw with Slavia Prague, with all four goals coming in a thrilling first half at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.
Chelsea thrashed Dynamo Kiev 3-0, Rodrigo struck twice for Valencia in a 2-1 win over Krasnodar, and Napoli eased to a 3-0 win over Salzburg.
Eintracht Frankfurt held Inter Milan to a 0-0 draw with goalkeeper Kevin Trapp making a fine save to keep out a Marcelo Brozovic penalty.
Villarreal earned a creditable 3-1 win at Zenit St Petersburg while Dinamo Zagreb beat Benfica 1-0.
Unai Emery’s Arsenal took the lead against Rennes in the fourth minute, with Iwobi’s low cross from the left beating everyone, including the goalkeeper, and finding its way in at the far post.
However, Rennes were handed an advantage when Soktratis pulled down Sarr on the edge of the box and was sent off for his second booking in seven minutes.
Worse was to follow when Hatem Ben Arfa took the resulting free-kick, which hit the wall but bounced back to Bourigeaud, who rifled the rebound into the top corner.
Rennes piled on the pressure after the break, capitalising on their numerical superiority, and Bourigeaud missed Sarr’s cross by inches.
Petr Cech was forced into an excellent save to deny Sarr but the goalkeeper was eventually beaten when Nacho Monreal deflected a cross over him and into his own net.
Senegalese international Sarr headed in to finish a brilliant team move in the final stages to give the French side a two-goal cushion to bring to the Emirates for the second leg.
“We controlled the first 40 minutes and scored and this is the first target but after the red card we cannot control it,” said Emery.
“When we were 2-1 down, it was difficult to have a better result. We wanted to hold the result but Rennes won the first 90 minutes.
“Now we have another 90 minutes at home in front of our supporters and we want to be positive, it will be 11 vs 11 again.”