Captain fantastic off bench to rescue Gunners

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came off the bench to spare the blushes of goalkeeper Bernd Leno as Arsenal scored twice in four minutes to earn a Europa League victory over Rapid Vienna at the Allianz Stadion, where 3,000 home fans looked on.

After a mistake by Leno gifted a goal to Taxiarchis Fountas, the Gunners had to rally from behind with David Luiz and Aubameyang on target as Arsenal left Austria with a 2-1 win.

Ercan Kara flashed a shot wide as Rapid ended a tepid first half on top and they were ahead just six minutes after the restart, albeit courtesy of a gift from Leno.

In trying to play out from the back, Leno received the ball from Luiz but made an error as his pass was intercepted by Kara.

He picked out his strike partner Fountas as the Greece international finished well to break the deadlock.

On the hour Mikel Arteta put on Hector Bellerin and captain Aubameyang from the bench.

But it was a much less familiar man who would get Arsenal back on level terms as Luiz rose to flick home Nicolas Pepe’s free-kick with Strebinger nowhere to be seen after venturing off his line.

The substitute then gave Arsenal the winner. Aubameyang was left with a simple finish after Mohamed E l n e n y ’s fine pass allowed Bellerin to square to his captain.

Arsenal saw out the remainder of the game with little threat to complete a professional job and star t their European campaign with three points but it was a night Bernd Leno might want to forget.