Substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the winner as Arsenal came from behind to win at Rapid Vienna in their Europa League Group B opener.
The hosts had taken the lead early in the second half when they capitalised on a Bernd Leno error, as the goalkeeper’s attempted pass was intercepted by Taxiarchis Founta, who then fired home from a tight angle.
Another error by Leno almost gifted the Austrians a second when he hit a clearance straight at Fountas but he was able to recover and parry the striker’s effort.
Arsenal, who gave a full debut to £45m summer signing Thomas Partey, lacked quality in the final third as they struggled to open up the hosts but found their bite when Aubameyang came off the bench.
David Luiz put Arsenal level when he headed in Nicolas Pepe’s free-kick and Aubameyang secured the win when he tapped in from Mohamed Elneny’s excellent assist.
Leno still looked nervous dealing with passes back to him and another poor clearance hit Luiz and deflected to Fountas, but this time Rapid Vienna’s top scorer could not capitalise.
But that was the only scare in the closing stages as Arsenal closed out the game to kick off their European campaign with an away win.
More to follow.
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Rapid Vienna
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Squad number1Player nameStrebinger
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Squad number36Player nameArase
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Squad number22Player nameStojkovic
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Squad number20Player nameHofmann
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Squad number4Player nameBarac
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Squad number31Player nameUllmann
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Squad number39Player nameLjubicic
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Squad number14Player nameGrahovac
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Squad number8Player nameRitzmaier
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Squad number29Player nameKara
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Squad number9Player nameFountas
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Squad number13Player nameSchick
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Squad number28Player nameKnasmüllner
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Squad number32Player nameKitagawa
Line-ups
Rapid Vienna
- 1Strebinger
- 36AraseBooked at 60minsSubstituted forSchickat 79′minutes
- 22Stojkovic
- 20Hofmann
- 4Barac
- 31Ullmann
- 39Ljubicic
- 14GrahovacBooked at 15mins
- 8RitzmaierBooked at 69minsSubstituted forKnasmüllnerat 88′minutes
- 29KaraBooked at 63minsSubstituted forKitagawaat 76′minutes
- 9Fountas
Substitutes
- 6Sonnleitner
- 13Schick
- 16Petrovic
- 19Alar
- 21Unger
- 25Gartler
- 28Knasmüllner
- 30Greiml
- 32Kitagawa
- 37Sulzbacher
- 40Ibrahimoglu
- 43Savic
Arsenal
- 1LenoBooked at 90mins
- 17Cédric SoaresSubstituted forBellerínat 61′minutes
- 23David Luiz
- 6dos Santos Magalhães
- 31Kolasinac
- 25Elneny
- 18ParteyBooked at 34mins
- 7SakaSubstituted forTierneyat 84′minutes
- 19PépéSubstituted forNelsonat 90+4′minutes
- 9LacazetteBooked at 27minsSubstituted forWillockat 84′minutes
- 30NketiahBooked at 37minsSubstituted forAubameyangat 61′minutes
Substitutes
- 2Bellerín
- 3Tierney
- 13Rúnarsson
- 14Aubameyang
- 15Maitland-Niles
- 20Mustafi
- 24Nelson
- 28Willock
- 33Macey
- 34Xhaka
Live Text
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Match ends, SK Rapid Wien 1, Arsenal 2.
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Second Half ends, SK Rapid Wien 1, Arsenal 2.
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Substitution, Arsenal. Reiss Nelson replaces Nicolas Pépé.
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Offside, SK Rapid Wien. Filip Stojkovic tries a through ball, but Thorsten Schick is caught offside.
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Attempt missed. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) left footed shot from a difficult angle on the left misses to the left. Assisted by Nicolas Pépé with a cross.
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Bernd Leno (Arsenal) is shown the yellow card.
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Sead Kolasinac (Arsenal) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Thorsten Schick (SK Rapid Wien).
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Substitution, SK Rapid Wien. Christoph Knasmüllner replaces Marcel Ritzmaier.
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Foul by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal).
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Maximilian Hofmann (SK Rapid Wien) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Attempt blocked. David Luiz (Arsenal) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Nicolas Pépé with a cross.
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Corner, Arsenal. Conceded by Maximilian Hofmann.
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Substitution, Arsenal. Joseph Willock replaces Alexandre Lacazette.
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Substitution, Arsenal. Kieran Tierney replaces Bukayo Saka.
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David Luiz (Arsenal) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Marcel Ritzmaier (SK Rapid Wien).
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Attempt blocked. Marcel Ritzmaier (SK Rapid Wien) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.
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Attempt missed. Nicolas Pépé (Arsenal) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left.
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Sead Kolasinac (Arsenal) wins a free kick on the left wing.
