Zurich 1 Arsenal 2: Gunners pay emotional tribute to Queen with minute’s silence at halftime of Europa League win

ARSENAL and Zurich observed a minute’s silence to commemorate the death of Her Majesty the Queen.

Players from both teams gathered around the center circle before the second half of their Europa League clash began after the sad news broke during the game.

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The official announcement completely overshadowed the game, which saw Arsenal return to European action after failing to qualify for the first time in 25 years last season.

Brazilian teenager Marquinhos marked his Arsenal debut with a goal and an assist to secure the win boss Mikel Arteta had been hoping for.

Marquinhos, 19, cost just £3million when he arrived from Sao Paulo in the summer and is already looking like a steal.

Arsenal considered loaning him out to gain more first-team experience but opted to keep him after agreeing to let record-breaking new signing Nicolas Pepe spend the season at Nice.

And the powerfully built winger made an instant impression when he selected Gabriel Martinelli for a free header that his fellow Brazilian lavishly headed wide.

Another promising chance came and went when Marquinhos shot over from Granit Xhaka’s cross as the visitors tried to turn the tide against the struggling Swiss champions.

But none of that mattered as Fabio Vieira counter-attacked Eddie Nketiah and galloped away before speeding through Marquinhos’ path.

And the impressive debutant made no mistake this time as he fired into the top corner in the 16th minute to momentarily silence the noisy Zurich fans.

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No one was nagged more by the crowd than Xhaka, who wore the Arsenal armband for the first time since his infamous collapse at the Emirates nearly three years ago.

It has been a full ten years since Xhaka last played for Zurich’s great rivals Basel, but her supporters are still unwilling to forgive or forget.

Not that Xhaka was worried. After all, he’s used to being insulted and almost had the last laugh when he demanded a long-range save from goalkeeper Yanick Brecher with a wild long-range shot after 25 minutes.

But just when it looked like Arsenal were about to take over the cruise control, they once again had to pay the price of a loss of defensive discipline.

Nketiah’s 43rd-minute tackle against Fidan Aliti was both risky and unnecessary, and Mirlind Kryeziu was nervous sending Matt Turner the wrong way from the penalty spot.

However, Arsenal have made a habit of bouncing back from adversity this season and took the lead again in the 61st minute when Nketiah headed a deep Marquinhos cross into the back post.