Ah, pre-season
In this week's episode of weird shit to happen in pre-season that would never happen during the season, Arsenal have beaten Paris Saint-Germain 5-1 with a comprehensive performance, playing some wonderful free flowing football.
Oh, and Mesut Özil signed - yeah, like, as an autograph - the referee's cards in the tunnel before the game. I shit you not. The Arsenal player was asked by the referee in whether he would mind and he duly obliged. Watch for yourself.
https://twitter.com/ArsenalTerje/status/1023171252008218624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.givemesport.com%2F1362019-there-was-a-bizarre-moment-between-mesut-ozil-and-the-referee-before-arsenal-vs-psg
You'd hope that this isn't a regular occurrence in games that this referee officiates, and merely a one-off, fuck-it-why-not thing that only ever happens in pre-season because nobody cares about the result. Özil certainly didn't mind.
The now former Germany international performed well in the game, opening the scoring as he buried a low cross from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with his weaker foot.
Özil was also wearing the captain's armband for today's game in the absence of Laurent Koscielny, Petr Cech and Aaron Ramsey from the starting line up. This could be something we see more of next season, with Koscielny suffering from fitness problems and Cech being demoted to the bench after the arrival of Berndt Leno.
