Arsenal win as Disney+ apologises for three-minute ad break glitch

Arsenal opened their Women's Champions League campaign with a 1-0 win over HB Koge on Tuesday, settled by a Mariona Caldentey penalty in stoppage time, the minutes added on at the end of the match. BBC Sport

It is Europe's top club competition for women's teams. The game was still 0-0 in the second half when live coverage on Disney+ cut away for around three minutes. Viewers criticised the interruption to Arsenal's opening fixture. The Guardian

Disney told BBC Sport that customers experienced an unintended interruption during the second half on Tuesday evening. The company said it was a technical issue, not a scheduled advert break, and its team is taking steps to ensure it does not happen again.

The match launched the second season of the competition on Disney+, with games produced by ESPN. Coverage is built around a new live studio show called The Hangout, which Disney describes as delivering pre-match build-up, half-time analysis and post-match reaction.

Tuesday's first show was hosted by Alex Scott alongside Lianne Sanderson, Alex Bailess, Tyra Mills and a dog called Barley Boy. Barley Boy has 137,000 followers on Instagram. The studio also featured a rotating floor and a shot of a vegetable platter being served.

There were other rough edges on the night. At one point cushions blocked the view of Scott, and there were problems with audio falling out of sync. Players waiting to be interviewed could not hear questions from the studio, and Italian reporter Roberto Perrone, in Milan for Inter Milan's game against Hacken, also ran into audio problems.

For fans, this means the football delivered and the broadcast did not quite keep up. Arsenal got the three points. Disney got a clear note on what needs fixing before the next big European night.