10-man Arsenal endured a night to forget in Thursday’s round-of-32 opener in the Europa League after an unmarked Stanislaw Drahun earned BATE Borisov a famous 1-0 win and Alexandre Lacazette was dismissed for a violent elbowing.

On a freezing night in Belarus and a cabbage patch of a pitch at Borisov Arena, Drahun rose to nod in a 45^th-minute free-kick. This goal ended a 495-minute spell without conceding in the competition by Unai Emery’s men.

Worryingly, the Gunners then struggled to craft clear openings against opponents who last played a competitive match on December 13. Lacazette first saw a sharp finish from Sead Kolasinac’s cross ruled out for offside before the hour mark, then was given his marching orders for unforgivably lashing out at Aleksandar Filipovic in the 85^th minute.

The teams reconvene at Emirates Stadium on February 21.

ARSENAL (3-4-2-1)

Petr Cech 6: Watching brief for the retiring Czech Republic veteran upon his return to the XI for cup action. Blameless for the goal.

Shkodran Mustafi 5: Most notable moment of struggling centre-back’s night was a move to right-back in second half to facilitate Aubameyang’s arrival.

Laurent Koscielny 5: Showed early hesitation for Mustafi’s flick. Then created moment of uncertainty with Cech. Not at his best.

Nacho Monreal 5: His clumsy foul on Skavysh caused the free-kick that sparked BATE’s goal. Doesn’t always convince in a three-man defence.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 4: Had just one inaccurate cross to show for his paltry evening’s work. Must grasp these chances.

Matteo Guendouzi 4: French teenager struggled to exert control on an awful surface. Gave the ball away a leading seven times for the error-strewn visitors.

Granit Xhaka 5: Picked up de rigueur booking for an unnecessary tug back. Lost possession six times and was hooked after hour mark.

Sead Kolasinac 5: Failed to pick up Dragun when midfielder broke the deadlock. This was game’s defining error. But led way with seven key passes.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 4: Would be interesting to hear Ozil’s thoughts if he tuned in from England after yet another inconsequential display by the Armenian, whose admittedly recovering from injury.

Alex Iwobi 5: Nigeria attacker tried to make things happen for the Gunners. Final pass, however, was lacking.

Alexandre Lacazette 2: Offside flag correctly denied him what would have been a well-taken leveller. Frustration at lack of service boiled over with wild elbow on Aleksandar Filipovic.

SUBSTITUTES

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 4: Thrown on in the 67^th minute, yet failed to produce a single attempt on goal.

Lucas Torreira 5: Uruguay midfielder tried to add some drive and quality. Failed in this mission.

Denis Suarez 6: At least looked busy. Barcelona loanee produced five crosses and one key pass.