Arsenal rubbed salt into the wounds of England fans following defeat by France with a misguided tweet just seconds after the Three Lions’ heartbreaking World Cup elimination.
Gareth Southgate’s men saw their journey in Qatar end at the quarter-final stage, with Harry Kane missing a late penalty and chance to equalise against the reigning world champions at Al-Bayt Stadium. Goals from Olivier Giroud and Aurelien Tchouameni were enough for Les Bleus to claim victory.
In what has been a common theme throughout the tournament, Premier League leaders Arsenal elected to congratulate their players reaching the semi-finals. Just seconds after the full-time whistle of the game, a tweet from the Gunners' official Twitter account shared an image of defender William Saliba draped in a France flag.
It read: “Our Wilo. A World Cup semi-finalist”
That triggered considerable backlash from supporters. One particularly disgruntled fan instructed the north London club to “read the room” whilst another wrote: “Not your finest decision, posting this.”
Another irritated fan wrote: “Please delete this tonight. I know you've got more fans who aren't English but.....” The annoyance continued throughout Saturday evening, with another fan replying to the tweet saying: “This is not the time for an English football club to even *think* about doing this. I am extremely disappointed.”
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Saliba, 21, was named in the French squad following an eye-catching season with the Gunners but his minutes at the World Cup have been limited. The defender has been afforded just 27 minutes of action throughout the tournament - those coming as a substitute in France’s defeat by Tunisia in their final group game.
To Arsenal’s credit, they did also tweet support for their England stars in the aftermath of the quarter-final, with images of Bukayo Saka and Aaron Ramsdale being joined by the caption “Our brave Gunners bow out,” as well as a love-heart emoji.
The Gunners weren’t the only north London side to face online backlash during the World Cup. Their fierce rivals Tottenham twice left themselves looking slightly silly.
First, they hailed Richarlison for reaching the semi-finals in Qatar - despite the fact the Brazilian suffered elimination at the hands of Croatia. That post, which appeared on their official Facebook page, was very swiftly deleted.
Just days later, they invited fans along to their mega-money stadium to watch England play in the semi-finals, which they did not progress to. An email to supporters read: "A world class venue for World Cup screenings," before more text called on supporters to "Watch England in the World Cup Semi Final at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium."
