Rennes vs Arsenal: Hatem Ben Arfa 'laughed' at Unai Emery during Europa League defeat
Ben Arfa was banished to the reserves by Emery during their time together at Paris Saint-Germain
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Hatem Ben Arfa revealed he ‘laughed’ at Unai Emery during 10-man Arsenal’s 3-1 Europa League defeat to Rennes.
Ben Arfa was banished to the reserves by Emery during their time together at Paris Saint-Germain after a total breakdown in their professional relationship.
Now at Rennes, Ben Arfa came up against his former manager with Arsenal’s visit to Roazhon Park on Thursday night and was influential in their defeat.
The 32-year-old insisted after the final whistle that he was not motivated by the prospect of getting revenge on Emery.
But Ben Arfa could not deny that the sight of an agitated Emery on the touchline raised a smile.
“My motivation was to play a solid match, to win and get ourselves into a good position to go through,” he said.
“That’s what was in my head. But I did see the same Emery, as agitated as ever. I looked over at him a few times and that made me laugh a little. He hasn’t changed.”
The former Newcastle United playmaker, who was celebrating his birthday on Thursday, also claimed to have predicted that Rennes would win this first leg by a 3-1 scoreline.
Arsenal took the lead through Alexi Iwobi but fell apart following Sokratis Papastathopoulos’ sending off for two bookable offences in the first half.
“I told some friends before the mach that my prediction was that we would win 3-1 or 4-1,” Ben Arfa said. ”We didn’t manage to get the fourth but my prediction was right.”
Arsenal welcome Rennes to the Emirates for the return leg of the last-16 tie next Thursday.
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