Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has slammed Bayer Leverkusen for trolling him on social media during Sunday's 2-0 loss to Manchester City and lobbying for their former player Bernd Leno to play instead.
Cech accused the German club of lacking professionalism after tweets from Leverkusen highlighted Leno's ability to play the ball out of the back -- following the Czech veteran's struggles to do so at times against Man City.
"[At] Arsenal we share important values which make us a big club not only on the football side. Fair competition, professionalism and sportsmanship are the biggest ones you teach young footballers and it's sad to see when other clubs don't share the same values," Cech wrote on Twitter on Monday evening, before including Leverkusen's official account handle at the end.
.@Arsenal we share important values which make us a big club not only on the football side . Fair competition, professionalism and sportsmanship are the biggest ones you teach young footballers and it's sad to see when other clubs don't share the same values. .@bayer04_en
— Petr Cech (@PetrCech) August 13, 2018
Arsenal signed Leno from Leverkusen this summer but new head coach Unai Emery still opted to start Cech against City in their season-opening Premier League game. The Czech veteran made a number of key saves but also struggled at times with Emery's new tactics of having the goalkeeper pass the ball out of the back. And when one Arsenal fan posted a video clip of Cech nearly scoring an embarrassing own goal in the first half after mis-hitting a back pass, the German club responded with a tweet saying: "We might know a guy..."
Leverkusen doubled down by then posting a video of Leno starting a quick attack that led to a goal for the club, with the line: "In case you all were wondering how to play out of the back..."
The jibes clearly riled Cech, who rarely voices complaints on social media.
Leverkusen responded by issuing an apology of sorts, saying their tweets were only meant as "banter."
"Hi Petr. It seems our joke about wanting to see Leno, our former player, in action has been taken a bit more harshly/personally than intended," Leverkusen wrote in reply to Cech's tweet. "It was only a bit of banter. We're all for the values you've stated and wish you and your big club all the best. Nice 1v1 save on [Sergio] Aguero!"
Hi Petr. It seems our joke about wanting to see Leno, our former player, in action has been taken a bit more harshly/personally than intended. It was only a bit of banter. We're all for the values you've stated and wish you and your big club all the best. Nice 1v1 save on Aguero!
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) August 13, 2018
After the game, the goalkeeper had insisted he enjoys Emery's new way of playing.
"I have to say that I enjoy it because I played under different managers with different styles and over most of my career I was always asked to play long, so this is a pleasant change for me and it will be very useful when you want to beat a team who controls the game through possession," Cech told Arsenal's website.