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Villarreal boss Unai Emery was left furious by the decision to award Arsenal a penalty as the Gunners' found a route back into their Europa League semi-final tie.
The Spanish side were leading 2-0 before Manu Trigueros was adjudged to have tripped Bukayo Saka in the box with referee Artur Dias pointing to the spot.
Nicolas Pepe converted the spot-kick to give the Premier League side a lifeline ahead of the second leg at the Emirates next week. But former Arsenal boss Emery was angry at the call from the official.
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'The penalty is not a penalty,' the former Gunners boss adamantly told BT Sport after the game.
'[It was a very important refereeing error and also, with VAR, you can see it.'
Both sides were reduced to ten men with Dani Ceballos sent off for Arsenal in the 57th minute before Etienne Capoue was given his marching orders in the 80th.
Villarreal held on to take a 2-1 advantage to London next week and Emery insisted his side were worthy of their win.
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'We deserved this victory. We had chances to score the third goal and that was our plan,' he added.
'We will play there with the same plan, to control and show our personality.
'We developed a plan [today] to take the victory and achieved it. It's a victory, and it allows us to continue in the second leg. We have to go there to score a goal.'
Emery managed Arsenal from May 2018 until November 2019 before he was sacked and replaced by current boss Mikel Arteta.
He will return to the Emirates for the first time when he will look to guide his side to the final in Gdansk.
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