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Arsenal transfer decision proven right as two stars suffer embarrassing loss

Two former Arsenal players were involved in one of the biggest cup knockout upsets ever that saw their team lose to an amateur side in the fifth division.

Ainsley Maitland Niles kneels behind as Joe Willock, Mohamed Elneny, Shkodran Mustafi, Gabriel and Alexandre Lacazette make a defensive wall (Image: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Alexandre Lacazette and Ainsley Maitland-Niles were both involved in Lyon getting knocked out of a cup competition by amateur side Bourgoin Jallieu.

The two squads met in the Coupe de France, which is essentially France's version of the FA Cup. Lyon have won the competition five times before and were runners up in the 2023/24 season, where they lost to PSG 2-1.

Sitting sixth in Ligue 1, manager Pierre Sage, who is only contracted until the end of the season, having started in November, would have been hoping for a good cup run. But this was cut short in the most embarrassing manner.

The game had ended 2-2 and headed to penalties. Lacazette was the first penalty taker for Lyon and got them off on the wrong foot after his shot was saved by amateur goalkeeper and free agent Ronan Jay.

Maitland-Miles was in the starting XI for Lyon but left the game with nothing but a yellow card. Goalkeeper Jay told beIN Sports after the victory: "We play football for this, it will stay with us for life, its' unbelievable."

What makes this victory even more comedically interesting is the fact that Bourgoin Jallieu became a partner club of Lyon in 2010; this still remains the case.

The club, which has a dolphin heading a ball on its badge, leaped beyond expectations. Many people gave them no chance of seeing past Lyon. TNT Sports didn't even bother to load Bourgoin Jallieu's badge onto their website, replacing it with the broadcaster's logo.

All this displays what an incredible upset it was and why cup competitions bring some of the greatest stories. These two teams are less than 50km away from each other, but they couldn't be more different.

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