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Football London
Football London
Sport
Lee Wilmot

Arsenal suffer £11.6m setback following Europa League elimination

Arsenal suffered a shock home defeat at the hands of Greek side Olympiacos on Thursday night.

Leading 1-0 from the Europa League round of 32 first leg in Greece, Arsenal contrived to throw it away in the second leg in north London.

Olympiacos took the tie into extra-time with a 1-0 lead at the end of 90 minutes, before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalised that looked as if it would see Arsenal safely through.

However, a 119th minute winner from Youssef El Arabi sent the Gunners crashing out of the competition.

The Europa League obviously gives teams a second opportunity, aside from their league position, for teams to qualify for next season's Champions League.

Arteta confident ahead of Olympiacos second leg

But that door is now closed to Arsenal, meaning they will need to overhaul the eight points between themselves and Chelsea to qualify through the Premier League.

And as well as missing out on a piece of silverware and a route into the Champions League, there are financial implications for the Gunners too.

The Europa League is obviously not as lucrative a European competition as the Champions League, but there is still money involved throughout the tournament.

Arsenal missed out on €1.1million (£946,000) for failing to qualify for the last 16. Reaching the quarter-final would have been worth €1.5million (£1.29million) and the semi-final would have seen Arsenal earn €2.4million (£2million).

Had they reached the final they would have earned €4.5million (£3.87million) if they lost and €8.5million (£7.3million) had they won it.

That means the defeat to Olympiacos in the last 32 has cost Arsenal a potential £11.6million - a sum that would most likely have been handed to Mikel Arteta during the summer transfer window.

There's also the revenue from television that will no longer be coming in for the Gunners, which could also have been into the tens of millions.

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