Fleetwood Town manager Matt Lawlor has praised Mikel Arteta for his gracious behaviour in the tunnel after Arsenal were knocked out of the Carabao Cup on penalties.
The reigning Premier League champions were eliminated in shocking fashion on Tuesday evening at Highbury Stadium, losing a penalty shootout to the Cod Army in the fourth round.
Arteta's classy reaction
Despite fielding a strong line-up, Arsenal struggled against a resilient Fleetwood backline. A defensive mistake allowed Aaron Loupalo-Bi to give the home side a surprise 1-0 lead in the 21st minute, but Viktor Gyokeres bobbled home the equaliser early in the second half.
In the 85th minute, teenage prodigy Max Dowman was shown a straight red card after an altercation with opposition defender Harrison Neal. Penalties then decided the game, with Bruno Guimaraes' saved effort handing Fleetwood the chance to make history. Conor Haughey stepped up to seal five perfect spot-kicks from five and knock the English champions out of the tournament.
Lawlor lauds Arteta's grace
Lawlor said: "He shook my hand two or three times and he was really, really gracious. I can imagine it's a really disappointing night for him."
"But the way that he acted there, with class, is amazing. I would love to catch up with him and pick his brains, but he's been really busy with media and all the emotions that come with it."
"We've not managed to cross paths, but he said well done in the tunnel briefly and how well we did, which is obviously a show of class from him."
Arteta's press conference praise
Arteta was equally gracious in his press conference after the defeat, saying: "First of all, congratulations to Fleetwood. In the manner they did it, the atmosphere they created."
"I have nothing to fault the players for their attitude and intensity throughout the game, with 11 and with 10, but when you are playing in that superior way, you have to give nothing to the opponent."
"When we create the volume of shots and chances we did, you have to score three, four or five. You capitalise on it. If you don't, there are no margins and that's the reality. Then you have to wait and get through the round on penalties and we didn't do that."
"The probability was low with the way the game was panning out, but it's football and still with low probability, there is always a chance you could be out of the cup. We are extremely sad - but at the same time we need to congratulate the opponent."
