Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta fumed after witnessing midfielder Mikel Merino being denied a penalty moments before conceding a soft spot-kick for handball in their 1-0 defeat against Inter Milan. The Gunners chief claimed Merino was “punched in the head” by goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Merino beat Sommer to a high ball in the penalty area, heading his effort against the Inter player’s hands and away for a corner. However, in desperately attempting to beat the ball away from danger, Sommer caught the Spaniard with his fists as he followed through.
Hungarian referee Istvan Kovacs opted against awarding a penalty. The 40-year-old official enraged Arteta and his players by then giving a spot-kick to Inter on the stroke of half-time.
Summer signing Merino was judged to have handled Mehdi Taremi’s flick-on but the ball had scarcely travelled any distance at all before striking the 28-year-old’s forearm. Hakan Calhanoglu converted the penalty to score the only goal of the game.
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Arteta told TNT Sports: "I am very proud of my players, the level of domination we had. We were very harshly done by in the sense that is obvious.”
The 42-year-old continued: “Both penalties. If you are going to give a penalty, the other one has to be because he punches him in the head.
“There is no deflection [for the handball decision], nothing you can do in the box, so can he get away from it? If he is going to give that the other has to be 100 per cent a penalty.
"We should have scored a couple at least but the way the team played, that was us at least. Every decision in the box makes a difference. The way we played tonight, the team can go to Chelsea and win."
Arsenal dominated the chances with Kai Havertz twice going close. One of few positives for the north Londoners was the late introduction of Martin Odegaard, who has been absent with an ankle injury for the best part of two months.
This was Arsenal’s first defeat in Europe this season but it leaves Arteta’s side in a vulnerable position. In the Champions League’s extremely tight league phase, the Gunners are now outside of the automatic qualification spots for the last-16 and could face two more play-off matches if they finish below eighth.
Inter's victory leaves Arsenal 12th in the table with two wins, a draw and a loss from their first four matches. Tough fixtures against Sporting Lisbon and Monaco will decide their fate.
