Arsenal players had ‘right reason’ to take a knee ahead of Slavia Prague tie – Arteta

Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has said his players had the “right reason” to take a knee before their Europa League quarter-final second leg clash at Slavia Prague.

Alexandre Lacazette wore the captain’s armband for the game on Thursday night.

And before kick-off, he took a knee in front of the entire Slavia line-up in a stand against racism, with his team doing the same behind him.

Asked about the gesture, Arteta explained that his players had requested permission to make a stand.

“They asked me and the club that they wanted to take that initiative,” he added.

“They had the right reasons for it, so the club was very supportive. I was supportive and thankfully the referee, and UEFA, they’ve been supportive. So I think it was a good gesture.

“They came to me, they wanted to take that initiative. We spoke with the club to make sure that we could follow the rules of UEFA and we can do it in the right way.

“We decided to take that approach, which I really like from the players, and I must say that UEFA was very supportive as well.

“The captains came to me and asked me to do that, and I just supported them like the club did.”