LONDON — French players have brought a great deal of stylish élan to Arsenal during Arsène Wenger’s long reign as manager, but perhaps too often that has been betrayed by an excess of peevishness from those same players.
When Olivier Giroud got himself red-carded for two needless acts of indiscipline in Croatia on Wednesday night, he handicapped his team by forcing it to play a man down for more than half the game.
Dinamo Zagreb took full advantage by going on to beat Arsenal, 2-1, in Maksimir Stadium. It was the first time that Dinamo had beaten an English club and its first victory in the Champions League since 1999.