Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has explained why he decided to take Gabriel Jesus off at half-time during last night's Europa League match against Sporting CP.
The Gunners drew 1-1 with the Portuguese side on the night, meaning the aggregate scoreline was 3-3 before Ruben Amorim's men eventually knocked out Mikel Arteta and co, winning 5-3 on penalties. There was further anguish for the north Londoners as defenders William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu both suffered injuries in the first-half before eventually being replaced by Rob Holding and Ben White respectively.
UEFA rules stipulate that each team can use a maximum of three stoppages in play to make substitutions, with one additional stoppage in extra time allowed. However, half-time doesn't count as a stoppage in play.
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That meant that Arteta had just two windows left to make substitutions, one of which being half-time, when he decided to bring off striker Jesus. When asked if bringing the Brazilian international off at half-time was planned, Arteta responded by saying: "Yeah. We decided to do that because we had to manage the subs.
"Thank God we did take him out, especially after the two windows that we had to use in the first half. That was the plan.
"Leo (Leandro Trossard) is coming from an injury as well and we knew the game could go to extra time and we had to manage that. He looked OK."
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