Hard to believe we know, but it was five years ago to the very day that Olivier Giroud and Francis Coquelin entertained the nation by getting all confuzzled at the business end of Arsenal’s chaotic 7-5 victory over Reading in the fourth round of the League Cup.
After somehow conspiring to go 4-0 down within the 37 minutes, Arsenal pulled a heroic comeback out of their collective derriere thanks to late goals from Laurent Koscielny and Theo Walcott in the 89th and 96th minute respectively before the final whistle thweeped at the Madejski Stadium.
It was at this point that Giroud and Coquelin, presumably thinking they had helped secure a replay, sauntered over to the Arsenal fans and victoriously hurled their shirts into the crowd.
The only problem being that another 30 minutes of extra time laid in wait, meaning the French pair were forced to immediately (and apologetically) ask for their shirts back…
Five years to the day since Giroud and Coquelin threw their shirts into the crowd, not knowing League Cup ties went to extra time. pic.twitter.com/q5oM41LiPU
— Andy Ha (@_AndyHa) October 30, 2017
Honestly, we prefer the amusing explanation offered by the Sky Sports commentator at the time, who speculated that Giroud and Coquelin thought they’d somehow managed to win a one-legged cup tie on away goals.
With all their players fully clothed, the Gunners went on to win the extraordinary tie 7-5 after 120 minutes of sheer frenzy.