Slavia Prague complain about Arsenal as Gunners ‘miracle player’ is hailed in Czechia

Slavia Prague have complained that Premier League side Arsenal were time-wasting in their 3-0 Champions League win on Tuesday night.

The Gunners ran out comfortable winners in Czechia with Mikel Merino scoring two second-half goals after Bukayo Saka had given Arsenal a 1-0 lead from the penalty spot in the first half.

It was Mikel Arteta’s side’s tenth win in a row in all competitions and their eighth clean sheet in a row, equalling a club record from 1903.

But Slavia Prague captain Lukas Provod insisted that Arsenal were time-wasting during the match with the referee failing to clamp down on it.

After the match, Provod said: “Arsenal prepare for set-pieces for a long time, we knew that.

“When they were leading, they didn’t rush anywhere, the referee didn’t rush them. I guess that’s a compliment for us too.”

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Gabriel Magalhaes’ header in the first half was adjudged to have hit Provod’s hand inside the penalty area with Slavia Prague unhappy that referee Aliyar Aghayev decided to give a penalty.

Provod added: “I was in charge of Gabriel, which is a tough one, so I was 100 per cent focused on defending him.

“The ball went from his head to my head and then into my hand. I prayed that VAR wouldn’t rule it out, which rarely happens. I don’t know exactly what the rule is when the ball goes from my head to my hand. Unfortunately, it was a penalty.

“In the first situation, he [the referee] told me that it went from Gabriel’s head to my hand. Which wasn’t true.”

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Slavia head coach, Jindrich Trpisovsky, also gave his view on the incident: “The referee told us that it was a hand above the head, Provi said that he first hit the ball with his head and it went into his hand, which would have been a violation, but this does not apply when the hand is above the shoulder.”

Max Dowman became the youngest player in Champions League history when he climbed off the bench in the second half at 15 years and 308 days old.

On Dowman, Provod said: “I know which player it was, but I had no idea he was fifteen years old.

“And hats off to him for making it here in Eden – the youngest player in the Champions League in history. I will be watching him and I believe he will only grow.”

Slavia Prague defender David Zima added on Dowman: “The difference is in how the players are approached. Of course, there are many more footballers in England, it’s a bigger country and every now and then a miracle player is born.

“There are some physical flaws but I looked completely different at fifteen. This is actually a grown-up player when you see him on the pitch.”