Proud Tierney hails gutsy Gunners

KIERAN TIERNEY has expressed his immense pride at helping Arsenal reach the FA Cup final with a stunning victory over Manchester City. The former Celtic defender was involved in both of PierreEmerick Aubameyang’s goals in Saturday’s 2-0 semi-final success, including a direct assist for the second with a perfectly weighted pass that broke the City offside trap. Playing on the left of a defensive three, Tierney was also part of a Gunners rearguard that came in for praise on a night that saw Mikel Arteta’s side repel wave after wave of attack. Next month’s

Wembley showpiece now awaits the £25million left-back at the end of a challenging first season at Arsenal that has been hampered by injury. A beaming Tierney, who won two Scottish Cups with Celtic among picking up a total of eight domestic trophies north of the border, said: ‘I’m very proud. ‘I’ll be really looking forward to it. It’s probably not sunk in yet, to be honest, but I’m just buzzing for every single one of the boys in the changing room. ‘Obviously, I’m gutted that the fans couldn’t be here to be part of it. It would have been a great occasion for them today. This one was for the fans. ‘It’s a great result for us. We knew coming in here it was going to be a tough, tough game after a tough game (against champions Liverpool) a few days ago, but we’ve had two really great results. ‘We’ve taken confidence, it was a great defensive performance and Aubameyang was brilliant as always.’ Tierney, who was named the club’s Player of the Month for June, insists the victory is a further sign that head coach Arteta has the team heading in the right direction after beating champions Liverpool on league duty just three days earlier. Speaking to Arsenal Digital, he said: ‘It was very tough, we were playing against one of the world’s best teams. ‘It feels good knowing that we’ve all got each other’s back. If you go, then someone is covering. You’re in it together. ‘It’s a good feeling in the squad now, it’s positive and that’s all you can ask for. ‘We’ve been working on that since the first day he (Mikel) came in and we’re getting closer to where we want to be. ‘I think you always need to believe, and coming into this game as well you had to believe we could win — and we did that. We take confidence, we take belief and we’ll keep building on it.’