Mikel Arteta mocks referee in Arsenal’s Champions League draw vs Atalanta

Mikel Arteta was spotted mimicking referee Clement Turpin during Arsenal’s draw with Atalanta in the Champions League on Thursday evening.

Arsenal were held to a goalless draw by the Serie A club in the first game of their new Champions League campaign.

In a game of few clear-cut chances, Arteta had David Raya to thank as the Arsenal goalkeeper produced a stunning double save to deny Mateo Retegui’s penalty and his follow up effort.

Arteta once again cut an animated figure on the touchline and the Arsenal manager escaped the wrath of the fourth official after appearing to mock Turpin during the second half.

After Arsenal were penalised for a foul from a corner-kick situation in the 62nd minute, Arteta was seen turning to the fourth official before holding a pose with a pretend whistle held close to his mouth.

Arteta, who was clearly angered by Turpin’s decision to call a foul, was seen saying, ‘like this, like this’, suggesting that the French official was simply waiting to penalise Arsenal in that situation.

Speaking after Arsenal’s draw, Arteta said: ‘If you can’t win, you have to take the point.

‘We started well, then we lost control and we were very inconsistent. The game was open but we didn’t suffer defensively, apart from the penalty. David Raya made one of the best saves I’ve seen in my life.’

Analysing Arsenal’s performance against Atalanta, Rio Ferdinand told TNT Sports: ‘I think that Mikel Arteta hit the nail on the head – they caused a lot of their own problems.

‘In possession very sloppy at times, especially in the forward areas, I don’t think they were able to retain possession for long periods enough, in the second half especially, although Atalanta did play their part in that.

‘But you want to retain possession, in the Champions League sometimes it’s a slower-paced game, you need people to get their foot on the ball, that’s where someone like [Martin] Odegaard comes in, he’s the one who gets the ball, he might spend two, three, four seconds on the ball, allow the team to then get up to get in better positions.

‘They showed glimpses of that today, but they weren’t as dominant in that area. They started well like the manager said, but in terms of the whole game I think they were a bit sloppy in areas and they’ll want to clean that up definitely for the weekend if they want to get anything from that game.’

Arsenal’s next Champions League game is at home to Paris Saint-Germain on October 1.

Arteta’s side now turn their attention to the Premier League as they play Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

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