UNAI EMERY had the last laugh on Hatem Ben Arfa as Arsenal’s Superheroes silenced the Rennes motor-mouth once and for all.
Ben Arfa had vowed to get his revenge on his former PSG boss by dumping Emery’s new club out of the Europa League.
But the former French international turned out to be all hot air as he was totally overshadowed by Arsenal’s big guns.
And no-one celebrated Arsenal’s place in today’s quarter-final draw more than two-goal Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Arsenal’s record signing could even afford to laugh off the yellow card he received for donning a Black Panther mask after scoring the goal which put this tie to bed.
And now there will be plenty more adventures to come as the Gunners made it a week to remember for English football.
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Emery had visibly bristled when he was quizzed about Ben Arfa’s comments after last week’s game.
The former Newcastle and PSG striker admitted that he had enjoyed his former manager’s touchline discomfort and claimed: “The way he was behaving made me laugh.”
There is clearly no love lost between two men who barely spoke during their final season together at the Parc des Princes.
But if Ben Arfa thought that Emery was agitated in Rennes, it was nothing compared to the Spaniard’s antics this time.
Right from the kick-off last night he was hopping about like a man possessed as he barked instructions to his players.
He had urged the Arsenal fans to create ‘a big atmosphere’ to help his team through to the next round.
But it was the travelling Rennes supporters who were making all the noise, their enthusiasm for the Europa League clear for all to see.
Considering that Arsenal have just been charged with failing to control their supporters during Sunday’s game against Manchester United, you would have hoped that the Emirates stewards might have been a little more vigilant this time.
Yet they still failed to confiscate the numerous flares which shrouded the Clock End in smoke at kick-off and are sure to bring another UEFA fine for Rennes.
But that was soon to be the least of the visitors’ problems and Emery’s early concerns were quickly assuaged when Aubameyang reduced the deficit within the first five minutes.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ probing pass was helped on by Aaron Ramsey and Aubameyang was unerring in his finish as he claimed his 21st goal of the season.
Arsenal’s record signing had promised at the weekend to whip out one of his famous masks the next time he scored, but maybe it was a bit too early to start clowning around.
Yet he must have been tempted to delve into his bag of tricks ten minutes later when Arsenal struck again to level the aggregate scores.
Ramsey’s over-hit pass appeared to be heading into touch but Aubameyang refused to give it up as a lost cause and delivered a looping cross on the run.
True, he had started his run from an offside position and you have to wonder how the Latvian linesman failed to raise his flag.
Yet it still didn’t excuse Rennes’ failure to challenge for the ball when Maitland-Niles headed in at the back post as he became the 12th different Arsenal player to score in the Europa League this season.
When Arsenal beat BATE Borisov in the last round, it was only the second time in 40 years that they had overcome a first-leg deficit in Europe.
But now they are making such light work of overcoming the odds that there was never any serious danger of them failing to progress last night.
Petr Cech could hardly have asked for a more comfortable encounter with his former club who barely managed to register a meaningful shot on target all match.
His only truly anxious moment came just after half-time when Shkodran Mustafi lost possession and M’Baye Niang struck the base of the post from the edge of the area.
It was a timely reminder for Arsenal that elimination was still only defensive gaffe away while the scoreline remained at 2-0.
But there was a real heart in mouth moment for Emery when Alexandre Lacazette clipped Ramy Bensebaini with a late challenge right in front of the Rennes bench.
The Frenchman had already been booked for a horrible lunge on Benjamin Andre and the visitors were convinced the foul merited a second yellow.
Considering the way his team had crumbled when Sokratis was sent-off at the Roazhon Park last week, Emery had good reason to fear being reduced to ten men again.
Rennes coach Julien Stephan was already unhappy that Lacazette was allowed to play in this game after his ban for last month’s red card in Borisov had been cut by UEFA.
So he was fuming when ref Andris Treimanis decided that a free-kick and a quick word of warning was sufficient punishment.
It made for a needlessly anxious half hour for Emery until Aubameyang swept home Sead Kolasinac’s inch-perfect cross to finally unleash his inner Black Panther.
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