Fabrizio Romano has criticised the decision to punish Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta for celebrating his team’s dramatic late-winning goal against Luton Town earlier this week.
The Gunners scored right at the death to seal a thrilling comeback against Luton, who had led 3-2, with Declan Rice heading in to make it 4-3 in stoppage time, which sparked wild celebrations from the players and their manager.
It didn’t seem like Arteta did anything particularly outlandish during the celebrations, but he was shown a yellow card by the referee and now faces a suspension for the upcoming game against Aston Villa.
Romano, speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his column in the Daily Briefing, said he didn’t feel Arteta did anything wrong, and that we don’t want to see managers unable to show their passion in dramatic moments like this.
“Arteta didn’t cross any line at Luton in my opinion. I’m always for celebration to be free, not being punished when you score in the 97th minute,” Romano said.
Most fans will surely agree with Romano here, as this really looks like a strange decision, especially when other managers have arguably got away with even more, such as running onto the pitch to celebrate.