After losing to a fourth-tier team, Arsenal's coach reveals what he said to his expelled player in a controversial moment

Spanish coach Mikel Arteta described Arsenal's sudden exit from the League Cup on penalties against Fleetwood Town - which plays in the fourth division - as a "very sad day" for the club, and revealed that he had previously discussed this matter with the young player Max Daumann, before the latter was expelled for directing a kick to one of the opposing team's players. The hopes of the English Premier League champions - who are 84 places ahead of Fleetwood in the English football pyramid - of winning the title for the first time since 1993 were dashed, in one of the biggest surprises of the tournament.

Goalkeeper Jay Lynch saved a penalty kick from Bruno Guimarães, before 19-year-old centre-back Connor Haughey converted the decisive penalty, unleashing wild celebrations among the home fans. Arteta felt frustrated by his team's failure to translate its dominance into a result, but at the same time he stressed that he could not place any blame on his players regarding their orientation and mental performance.

Arteta told Sky Sports: “First of all, I congratulate the Fleetwood team for qualifying for the next round, and given the way they achieved that and the atmosphere they created... He continued: “I cannot place any blame at all on the players’ attitude; I have not seen anyone hesitate to do what the current level requires.”

Arteta added: "But it is clear that we pressed hard, possessed the ball for long periods, created many opportunities and shot many balls. If you want to settle the match with a comfortable margin instead of going to penalty kicks, then you should definitely take advantage of those opportunities, which we did not do - and this is the essence of football." He continued: “In terms of fighting spirit, I do not have any negative comments; if it were otherwise, I would now be in a state of extreme anger.

I feel sad, and I think we all feel sad. We have a great responsibility to represent this logo in the best possible way.”

Arsenal's affairs became more complicated that evening after Daumann was sent off about four minutes before the end, after he kicked Fleetwood midfielder Harrison Neil. This incident put Arteta in the face of questions about the young striker, who had produced a remarkable performance in the previous round against Ipswich Town.

The Arsenal coach said he wanted to review the footage before making a final judgement. He added: "It is difficult to see clearly through the cameras like this, so I prefer to re-watch the footage properly, and then I can assess the situation."

Regarding whether the 16-year-old player will learn from this incident, Arteta replied: “Yes, we will learn from everything.” When asked what he said to Daumann as the teenager left the field, Arteta told BBC Radio 5 Live, saying: “It is something we already discussed before the match.”

Arsenal were unable to score the winning goal after Victor Guikiris equalized the score, in response to Aaron Lobalo-Bee's first goal in the first half, so the two teams resorted to penalty kicks after Fleetwood succeeded in withstanding intense pressure in the final minutes. Arteta saw that his team did not give its opponent few chances, but it paid the price for its inability to achieve a decisive advantage.

He added: “We did not give them anything significant throughout the match, and we created many opportunities, but we did not take advantage of them. This defeat represented a major setback for the Arsenal team, which had finished last season in this tournament in second place behind Manchester City, and was hoping to take another step towards ending its long wait for winning the League Cup title.

Fleetwood coach: We did not practice penalty kicks! For Fleetwood manager Matt Lawlor, the result represented a landmark night for a club that had only joined the Football League 15 years earlier.

Lawlor expressed his happiness with the discipline and determination shown by his players against a competitor from the top flight, admitting that his team never expected to outperform Arsenal. “We're not so stupid as to think we're going to outperform the best team in the country,” he said.

He continued: "We just tried to deprive them of space and opportunities. I am very happy with the performance that the players gave; they made everyone in the city feel very proud."

The calmness of the Fleetwood players when taking the penalties was particularly striking, as Lawlor revealed that his players had not trained to take the penalties. He admitted, "We didn't train even once!"

A 19-year-old centre-back took the final kick and put it home!" As the celebrations began, Lawlor joked with the crowd that he might mark the occasion by playing a padel match. He also suggested that some of his players' cars might remain parked at the training ground until Wednesday morning - a playful hint that the celebrations could extend very late into the night.

As Fleetwood qualified for the next round, the coach seemed unsure for a moment of what awaited his team, asking: “Are we now in the quarter-finals?