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Olivier Giroud: Twitter reacts to Arsenal stars 100th goal as fans outraged after referee awards softest penalty ever

The Frenchman made no mistake from the spot as he brought up a century of Gunners goals with a spot-kick against BATE Borisov in the Europa League

OLIVIER GIROUD brought up a century of Arsenal goals from the penalty spot in hugely controversial fashion.

Fans fumed on Twitter after the referee awarded the softest spot-kick to be given during the Europa League clash against BATE Borisov.

 Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud scored his 100th goal for the Gunners against BATE Borisov
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Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud scored his 100th goal for the Gunners against BATE BorisovCredit: Reuters
 The French forward netted from the penalty spot in Belarus after a dubious decision from the referee
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The French forward netted from the penalty spot in Belarus after a dubious decision from the refereeCredit: AP:Associated Press

Stanislav Dragun was deemed to have German centre-back Shkodran Mustafi in the box - although it remains to be seen what the midfielder actually did.

Nevertheless, Giroud stepped up, and wrong-footed the goalkeeper as he dispatched the spot-kick in the bottom left corner.

In what would delight Arsenal fans, the former Montpellier man netted 100 goals in quicker than Robin van Persie.

Theo Walcott - on a hat-trick - turned down the chance to take the penalty, and now has just seven more goals for the Gunners, despite signing six years before the Frenchman.

But despite a century of goals for the FA Cup champions, the major talking was how the ref decided to award them a free shot from 12-yards out.

Some believed he was making amends for failing to send off Nemanja Milunovic for an elbow on midfielder Joe Willock.

 Olivier Giroud celebrates with Theo Walcott after his landmark goal for the North London side
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Olivier Giroud celebrates with Theo Walcott after his landmark goal for the North London sideCredit: Reuters
 Shkodran Mustafi was deemed to have been fouled in what is being called the softest ever penalty
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Shkodran Mustafi was deemed to have been fouled in what is being called the softest ever penaltyCredit: EPA

Arsene Wenger's decision to field a mixture of first team stars and academy graduates paid off as they eased to a comfortable 4-2 victory at Borisov Stadium.

Rob Holding scored his first goal in an Arsenal shirt, while John Hartson labelled Jack Wilshere as WORLD CLASS for assisting Walcott.

Here are the best tweets about the awful refereeing decision...

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