The goals for Arsenal's Women's Champions League clash against Ajax on Wednesday were 'too small by 10 centimetres' and needed to be changed before kick off.
The Gunners were left baffled when they noticed the goals at the Sportpark De Toekomst were a peculiar size during the warm-up. As it turned out, they were too small and needed to be changed at the last minute - with further alterations required at half-time.
Despite the chaos, a second-half goal from forward Vivianne Miedema sealed a 1-0 win for Arsenal on the night and a 3-2 victory on aggregate. The Gunners will be one of 16 teams in the group stage of this season's Women's Champions League, along with Chelsea.
Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall was perplexed by the short goals. "It’s been a very weird experience coming here, a big club like Ajax but we had to measure the goals before the game and it turned out the goals were too small by 10 centimetres," he told reporters.
"I’ve never experienced anything like that to be honest... It's very weird but we can only control the things we can control."
It was a tough evening for Arsenal, as Beth Mead and Rafaelle Souza suffered injuries. The latter was forced off during the first half with an ankle complaint. The Gunners don't play again until they travel to Women's Super League rivals Reading on October 16.
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Mead was brought on in the second half but had to come off due to a head injury. The decision to withdraw the England international was made as a precaution for concussion, although Arsenal were not allowed to make a concussion substitute.
UEFA allow teams to make up to five substitutions per game in three separate intervals but are yet to grant concussion substitutes. The Premier League and WSL now allow two permanent changes to be made in the event of a worrying head injury.
UEFA's ruling also left Eidevall baffled. "There is no doubt that Beth Mead needs to be taken off," he added. "The problem I have is that I asked the fourth official if we could do a concussion substitute and she says 'yes'.
"We were preparing Lina Hurtig [to come on] then when we are going to do it she says 'no'. We were getting her ready for two or three minutes.
"We would have spent that time speaking to the players about how we could defend with 10 players. That misinformation from the referee... I honestly don't know why and how that could be. It's such a simple question to answer yes or no."
Eidevall also criticised the challenge on Mead, who is now a doubt for England's friendlies against the United States and Czech Republic next month. He said: "When you tackle towards the head, that is not only pain, it can impact the rest of your life. That is so important. The decisions have to be very good... I just hope [Mead] is all right."
