Arsenal Bizarrely Lift Trophy 15 Minutes After Losing Pre-Season Penalty Shootout

Arsenal’s first trophy lift of the season came under bizarre circumstances – just 15 minutes after losing a penalty shootout to AC Milan on Wednesday afternoon. Mikel Arteta’s side, featuring new signings Kepa Arrizabalaga, Christian Norgaard, and Martin Zubimendi, fell 6-5 on penalties in Singapore.

Martin Odegaard, Reiss Nelson, Jakub Kiwior, and Marli Ellis Salmon all missed their six-yard attempts. Salmon was the final Arsenal player to miss before Christian Comotto converted the winner for Milan. That set up the strange sight of Arsenal lifting silverware just moments later. See below:

The north London side – runners-up in the Premier League for the past three seasons – will be aiming for far more prestigious silverware than the Tridentity Cup in the 2025/26 campaign. But from the outside looking in, it seems they’ll need to put in significantly more effort than they did this week – though, of course, not everything is always as straightforward as it appears.

Why Arsenal Lifted Trophy After Losing Penalty Shootout

Pre-season tournaments can be tricky to get your head around sometimes

Based on the evidence of Arsenal needing a penalty shootout at Singapore’s Festival of Football, you’d assume they drew with sleeping giants AC Milan. But in reality, they won 1-0 thanks to a second-half goal from Bukayo Saka, which is why they were still crowned winners of the unorthodox pre-season tournament.

The shootout was almost entirely unnecessary from a competitive standpoint, but it’s not unheard of in friendlies, as it offers players a chance to get penalty practice ahead of the new season. Watch Saka’s winning goal below:

The Gunners crashed out of the FA Cup last season after a 5-3 penalty shootout loss to Manchester United in the Third Round, highlighting just how valuable penalty practice can be.

GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Since Mikel Arteta took charge in late 2019, Arsenal have been involved in six shootouts, winning four and losing two (not including pre-season).

As they aim to reach the latter stages of the Champions League again, following a run to the semi-finals last term, their composure under pressure could be the difference between finally securing their first post-lockdown silverware or extending their trophy drought, so Arteta – an advocate for the intricacies of the beautiful game – will be hoping his side learnt some valuable lessons from the practice.