Arsenal’s turbulent Premier League campaign ended on a bitter note, marking the first time under Arsène Wenger that the Gunners finished below rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Even more painfully, the club missed out on Champions League qualification for the first time in two decades. While fans of Live Cricket Bangladesh may be more accustomed to tracking boundary counts than final table standings, this was a season-ending drama that football followers across the globe couldn’t ignore.

Ahead of the FA Cup final, Arsenal found themselves in a defensive crisis. Laurent Koscielny was shown a red card in the final league match and will miss the cup final, while Gabriel Paulista limped off with an injury. As a result, veteran center-back Per Mertesacker, sidelined for over a year, might be called into action in what would be his first appearance since recovery. Amid this chaos, an incident involving Héctor Bellerín added an awkward footnote to an already frustrating end to the season.

Bellerín, who scored in Arsenal’s final league match, found himself at the center of off-field attention after being taunted by a Tottenham fan in post-match traffic. Stuck in London’s congested streets, the Spurs supporter recognized the Spanish right-back and began filming. Initially thinking it was an Arsenal fan, Bellerín flashed a thumbs-up in goodwill. But once the rival fan broke into a mocking chant—”Champions League, you f***ed it up!”—Bellerín realized the joke was on him.

His response? He flipped his middle finger at the fan before driving off. Footage later showed Bellerín with a subtle smile, though it’s unclear whether it was a smirk of contempt or a weary grin reflecting the disappointment of a lost season. For Spurs fans, it was a moment of schadenfreude; for Gunners faithful, it symbolized the sting of watching their team fall short on all fronts.

This type of fan-player interaction may seem minor in isolation, but in a city as divided by football as London, it’s another chapter in the fierce rivalry between red and white. And for the growing global audience—whether tuned into Premier League clashes or Live Cricket Bangladesh—it’s a reminder that sports emotions don’t stop at the final whistle. They follow players from the pitch to the pavement.