Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta has joked that he wished to slap Bukayo Saka after his poor penalty was saved within the first half of final night time’s win over Actual Madrid.
Arteta might afford to joke about it afterwards because the Gunners went on to win the sport, with Saka later scoring within the second half earlier than a late winner from Gabriel Martinelli.
It ended up being a fantastic night time in Arsenal’s historical past as they beat Actual 2-1 away from residence, and 5-1 on combination on this quarter-final tie.
It means Arsenal are actually within the Champions League semi-finals for under the third time of their historical past, with Paris Saint-Germain up subsequent for the north London giants.
Saka could have tousled his penalty, however the England worldwide carried out beautifully in each legs and Arteta’s remark was absolutely simply tongue-in-cheek.
Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka’s penalty miss
“I’d have preferred to slap him. However the participant has to make the choice, and he was daring sufficient to do it,” Arteta stated after the sport, as quoted by BBC Sport.
“That might have been a turning level emotionally within the sport as a result of it gave them numerous perception. However then the way in which he dealt with the scenario, and the way in which he performed afterwards was unbelievable.”
Saka is often fairly dependable from the penalty spot, however he actually acquired it badly fallacious as Thibaut Courtois had little bother saving his tried Panenka.
Arsenal followers shall be relieved this didn’t price their group the sport, as we’ve seen Madrid come again from massive deficits earlier than, particularly within the Champions League.
The Spanish giants have so usually discovered one thing to overpower their opponents on this competitors, however in reality they hardly ever troubled Arsenal in both sport.
Arteta has accomplished nice work with this Arsenal facet they usually’ll more and more really feel they will go all the way in which and win this trophy for the primary time of their historical past.
