OZ-TRACISED
Mesut Ozil left out of Arsenal squad for Eintracht Frankfurt clash… as Unai Emery is resting him despite just 71 minutes of action all season
MESUT OZIL has been rested by Arsenal . . . after just 71 minutes of football all season.
The German playmaker has not travelled to Frankfurt for tonight’s Europa League opener with Eintracht.
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Boss Unai Emery insists he has left Ozil behind because he needs a rest after Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Watford.
But that was the player’s first game in four months and even then he was substituted with 19 minutes remaining.
Emery said: “We are playing a lot of matches and I want to use different players, so Sokratis and Mesut are rested for this match.
“After Watford I prefer that Mesut rests for this game and trains to be ready for our next Premier League game. That is my decision.
“The first match he played on Sunday he did well physically — and also gave us his capacity and his skills.
“Now he is ready to be helping us again, but not tomorrow.”
Emery denied suggestions Ozil did not want to travel to Germany because of the backlash he would have been facing from the Frankfurt crowd.
He has not played in his home country since being booed by German fans in June 2018 following a controversial meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ozil, 30, has been a national pariah since retiring from international duty after last year’s World Cup and citing alleged racism by the German football federation.
He missed Arsenal’s opening game at Newcastle because he was traumatised by an attempted car-jacking.
Then a mystery virus meant he was not selected until Sunday’s trip to Vicarage Road.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Bernd Leno have all been included in Arsenal’s squad, despite playing every minute of their five games so far this season.
Sead Kolasinac, who confronted the knife-wielding robbers in the attempted car-jacking, has also travelled.
Like Ozil, Kolasinac missed the opening match of the season.
But he has been involved in every game since and insists he is over the ordeal.
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The Bosnian left-back, 26, said: “I don’t want to talk in details about what happened but of course it was mentally hard for me.
“That incident belongs in the past and it’s the same with Mesut. We’re back and focused on the job.”
Emery predicts this will be their toughest group match.
The Gunners boss added: “Eintracht lost on penalties to Chelsea in last season’s semi-finals and we know they are a very big challenge for us.”
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