Arsenal allowed Crystal Palace a 2-2 draw at the Emirates, and it was clear the game was not lost. However, what the Gunners will likely be losing is the team captain. Granit Xhaka blew his top on his way out when substituted and he hurled invectives to Arsenal supporters.
Gunners boss Unai Emery had decided to take his captain out of the match when Palace managed to equalize the game. Then the Spaniard saw the domino tiles tumbling down.
The club skipper decided to drag his feet going out and a portion of the Emirates crowd started jeering on him. Xhaka lost his cool, CNN reported.
"Xhaka then cupped his ears to the crowd in a defiant response to the Arsenal fans, before removing his shirt, refusing a handshake from Emery and reportedly swearing at supporters as he headed straight down the tunnel," the report said.
Stunned, the team captain's boss could only utter that the Swiss international was wrong to react the way he did.
Indeed, football luminaries are in agreement that Xhaka's behavior was unacceptable. Former England striker Alan Shearer called on the Gunners leader to man up and apologize for his actions.
"No one expects Xhaka to be pleased when your own fans are cheering when you're being substituted. But, as captain, you just cannot react to your fans in the way he did. There is no way back for Xhaka unless he apologizes," Metro reported Shearer as saying.
Going forward, the football icon reminded Emery that fielding Xhaka again on Arsenal's upcoming games would be "toxic."
Writing for Sky Sports, former Arsenal striker Charlie Nicholas echoed the same sentiment but added that the outburst displayed by Xhaka marked the end of the Swiss' stay with the Gunners.
"I'll be surprised if he comes back in any capacity to play for Arsenal again," Nicholas wrote, adding "He's representing Arsenal as a captain and it is unacceptable to think you're as big as anything at the club. His behavior was atrocious, and I don't see him having a future at the club."
ESPN too weighed in on the incident and offered that Xhaka acting like he was the most important man on the pitch was hard to forgive. It was a spectacle when the Gunners skipper was seen "deliberately slowing down as he walked off, when his team had let a two-goal lead slip and were chasing the game."
Xhaka's action was unforgivable and it suggested that the team captain "was more concerned with making a petty point against some people who were being mean to him, than his own team winning."
What transpired will also haunt Emery because he was the appointing power that led to Xhaka's disastrous role as team lead for Arsenal, the report reminded.
