ARSENAL fans were left furious at Barcelona star Ronald Araujo after his heavy tackle on Gabriel Jesus.
During the Gunners’ thrilling 5-3 win over Barcelona in LA, United States, the defender went in heavy with a tackle on Jesus.
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/15avugl/ronald_arajo_tackle_on_gabriel_jesus/Ronaldo Araujo can be seen chasing down Gabriel Jesus[/caption]
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/15avugl/ronald_arajo_tackle_on_gabriel_jesus/The Barcelona man then leaps in to win the ball[/caption]
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/15avugl/ronald_arajo_tackle_on_gabriel_jesus/But misses his cue as Jesus attempts to block him off[/caption]
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/15avugl/ronald_arajo_tackle_on_gabriel_jesus/Araujo missed the ball and wiped Jesus out high[/caption]
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/15avugl/ronald_arajo_tackle_on_gabriel_jesus/To leave them crumpled on the floor[/caption]
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/15avugl/ronald_arajo_tackle_on_gabriel_jesus/Before Jesus gestured to the ref to take action[/caption]
A video of the incident showed the Brazilian forward being pursued by Araujo before the Barca man leapt in to try and hook the ball away.
However, as Jesus blocked off Araujo he caused the Uruguayan to completely miss the ball and instead wipe out the Arsenal ace at hip level before both fell to the floor.
After the challenge, Jesus gestured to the referee to take some action.
And the Arsenal faithful were also left angry at the challenge, with one fan on Reddit remarking: “Someone should have told him it was a friendly.”
A second joked: “Bit early for Kung-Fu.”
“How’s that not a red lol,” asked a third.
Fans were equally upset on Twitter, with one typing: “Bro missed the leg and the ball .”
A second added: “What kind of nonsense tackle is that.”
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Meanwhile a third said: “It’s a wrestling move that!”
On the competitive nature of the game, Mikel Arteta took a swipe a Barcelona, saying: “From the very first tackle it got really competitive for a friendly match.
“Playing in front of 70,000 people creates an atmosphere and they are elite players who all want to win.
“At the end I think it got a bit too much for a friendly but football belongs to the players and as soon as the game starts they’ll rebel against the coaches and do what they want.
“As soon as there’s the first foul of the game they’ll start getting intense but I think the show we put on for all the people who came to watch was really good.”
Barca boss Xavi had his own thoughts too, telling reporters: “I said to Mikel at the end that it was like a Champions League game. The intensity they put in was not normal in a friendly.
“I understand that everyone wants to win but you don’t expect to have this many injuries and yellow cards in a game like this.
“This was our first game of the summer and Arsenal have now played four. They are a very strong team and they were at a very high level of rhythm that we weren’t expecting.”
It is not the first time Arsenal fans have been left incensed by a heavy pre-season tackle, previously levelling their fury towards Manchester United‘s Lisandro Martinez.
In United’s 2-0 win over Arsenal earlier this week, the Argentine was seen wiping out Bukayo Saka before squaring up to Martin Odegaard.
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