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Shkodran Mustafi will not face retrospective punishment by the Football Association for his goal celebration in Sunday’s 3-2 win over Cardiff City .
The German defender, born in Germany to an Albanian family from Macedonia, celebrated his 11th-minute goal by locking his open hands together at the thumbs and ‘flapping’ his fingers.
The gesture resembles – and is understood to be a reference to – the double-headed eagle on Albania’s national flag.
Show all 23 1 /23Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings We run the rule over the two teams
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Neil Etheridge - 7/10 Had defenders making errors in front of him, particularly in the first half but he made some good saves and interceptions. Enjoyed a good start to the season.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Bruno Ecuele Manga - 6 Was a reasonable performance but he did make a few sliced clearances and didn’t look as comfortable as his fellow full-back.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Sean Morrison - 6 Made a few uncharacteristic errors with the ball at his feet which led to a few dangerous situations but was also a threat himself going forward. Set up Cardiff’s second equaliser.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Sol Bamba - 6 Strong performance as usual but like the rest of the defenders, he’ll have better days.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Joe Bennett - 7 Was probably the most composed of all the defenders at the actual art of defending but also sent in some good crosses, as well as the one that tee’d up Camarasa for the goal.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Victor Camarasa - 7 Tenacious player and scoring Cardiff’s first goal of the season is worthy of any good rating. It was a smashing goal too, right on the cusp of half time.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Harry Arter - 6 Missed two very good opportunities so hard to give him such a good rating but was still his normal dogged self in midfield and didn’t give Arsenal a moment’s peace.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Joe Ralls - 7 Sent in some good crosses from free-kicks and was strong in midfield. Had a big say in Cardiff’s better moments.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Junior Hoilett - 7 Really good performance for the left-side of Cardiff and Hoilett, like Bennett, sent in a number of testing crosses but also helped on the defensive side.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Bobby Reid - 6 Was probably the better of the two strikers in an overall sense, trying to create and run at Arsenal’s defence but it didn’t always go to plan. Some of his decisions in the final third were somewhat questionable.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Danny Ward - 7 Will have been disappointed in the first half that he didn’t take his opportunity in the starting XI but improved in the second half and netted Cardiff’s second equaliser with a wonderfully placed header.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Petr Cech - 5 I’m sorry Petr but it’s very hard to give a good rating when distribution is so consistently poor. What he’s being requested to do is how some teams choose to play at the moment but there’s no getting away from the fact it does not suit Cech at the moment. They say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks and there’s no denying that he’s trying but it will no doubt cause more issues for the side.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Hector Bellerin - 6 Typical Bellerin performance where he looked to offer a lot more going forward than he did in his defensive duties. To be fair to him, Ozil didn’t give him much help.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Sokratis Papastathopoulos - 6 Neither of the Arsenal centre halves seem to be assured defenders and they certainly had their wobbles today.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Shkodran Mustafi - 6 Like Sokratis, you don’t have full confidence in Mustafi to dominate his defensive line but he did score a smashing header in the first half.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Nacho Monreal - 6 Got sucked in for Cardiff’s equaliser and wasn’t his same self going forward.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Matteo Guendouzi - 7 Looks young and fresh and is bound to make some errors in his journey but looks a more assured figure, even in his youth, than Xhaka.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Granit Xhaka - 6 Talk of the devil. Very frustrating player because he has talent as we can see with his assist for the Gunners’ first goal but he also gave an incredibly sloppy pass away which led to Cardiff’s first equaliser. Not reliable.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Mesut Ozil - 6 Not particularly helpful in a defensive sense, not that that comes as any surprise to anyone, but he did link up well with Aubameyang and Lacazette up front.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Aaron Ramsey - 7 Made some nice touches and crosses despite getting a warning of rough treatment pre-game from Neil Warnock. Looked comfortable back at his old home.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 7 Was shifted out wide for today with Lacazette taking the more central berth and the first half didn’t go his way with touches going awry but it came together in the second half with him scoring his first goal of the season, and a great one at that.
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Cardiff vs Arsenal - player ratings Alexandre Lacazette - 8 A really top performance from the Frenchman who led the line well, had some fantastic touches, assisted Arsenal’s second and scored the winning goal. Will definitely be hoping to keep his place in the starting XI.
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Mustafi made the gesture towards assister Granit Xhaka , another Arsenal player with Kosovar-Albanian heritage.
Given the FA’s regulation regarding political statements in the game, Mustafi risked punishment for his celebration but the organisation has opted not to take action against the defender.
During the World Cup both Switzerland’s Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri were both disciplined for celebrating in the same manner against Serbia.
Following a short investigation, Fifa fine Xhaka and Shaqiri “for unsporting behaviour contrary to the principles of fair-play during their goal(s) celebrations at the match Switzerland vs. Serbia.” Stephen Lichsteiner was also fined having joined in with the celebrations.
Tensions remain high between ethnic Albanians and nationalist Serbs in Kosovo. Kosovo’s Albanian-majority political institutions declared independence in 2008 but, a decade on, the territory is still not recognised by Serbia.
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