Gunners’ raya hope
Arsenal No.1 to dream of a David says Madrid heroes can dare first Champions League
euro stars in the making
Bukayo Saka has been directly involved in 15 goals in 16 Champions League appearances for Arsenal (nine goals, six assists). Of players with 1000-plus minutes played for the
Gunners, Saka has the best minutes per goal or assist ratio (87) for them in the competition.
William Saliba made 12 clearances against Real Madrid; the most by an Arsenal player in a Champions League match since Per Mertesacker v Bayern Munich in March 2014 (12).
Arsenal’s Myles-lewis Skelly is one of only three players aged 18 to start a knockout stage match away to Real Madrid in the Champions League, after Cesc Fàbregas in February 2006 (Arsenal) and Max Meyer in March 2014 (FC
Schalke 04).
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is the 10th different Spanish manager to reach a Champions League semi-final, with only Italy (11) having more different coaches do so in the competition’s history.
Arsenal have equalled their longest winning run away from home in the European Cup/ Champions League (4).
DAVID RAYA says Arsenal have made a “real statement” of intent in the Champions League.
The Gunners keeper (right) believes Arsenal are now ready to go on and “write their own history” by winning the trophy for the first time.
They knocked out 15time winners Real Madrid after beating the
Spanish giants in both legs to clock up a daunting aggregate
5-1 victory to make the rest of Europe sit up and take notice.
But it did not just show they are ready for Paris Saint Germain in the semi-finals, it also blew away any doubts in the Arsenal dressing room.
It is the first time in 16 years that Arsenal have reached a Champions League semi-final and they now believe they can go on to the final in Munich on May 31.
Arsenal were better in every department than Madrid and, after all the talk of the home side staging a second-leg comeback, it was Mikel
Arteta’s (inset) heroes who delivered one of the best European nights in their history.
Raya said: “It’s a real statement. It’s great the way we beat Madrid twice and, coming to the Bernabeu, the way we played, the way we defended, and pressing high the way we were, very attacking minded.
“It’s been very long since this club was in the semi-final but we are here to create our own history and hopefully we can dream. We are going to try everything in our hands to do it.
“We knew it was out there because it’s Real
Madrid, it’s part of the history.
But we said
‘we are here to create our own history’ and that’s what we did, the way we came to the Bernabeu and the way we played, the way we defended, the way we created chances.
“We kept them quiet and in the second half, they created chances and they took one and we took our chances and we won the game and credit to us. It was a complete match from us.”
Arsenal have already beaten PSG in the league phase of the competition but Luis Enrique’s men were under-strength that night with injuries.
Star forward and danger man Ousmane Dembele had also fallen out with Enrique back then and yet is firmly back on board and playing his best football in an attacking lineup.
But both Liverpool and Aston Villa have beaten PSG in the knock-out only to lose on aggregate. Raya warned: “Yeah we beat them at home but I think PSG are a different team.
“They look even better now than what they looked back in the group stage and that’s credit to them. They didn’t get easy games either.”
Arsenal showed real character in the Bernabeu as Bukayo Saka missed a first-half penalty only to then make amends by scoring in the second half.
Raya said it underlined Saka’s mentality and determination to be one of Europe’s top players.
Raya added: “We scored two goals, even though we missed a penalty in the first half, but these things happen and then Bukayo scores us the first goal and then that gives us the confidence to win the game.
“Mistakes happen, penalties are missed but credit to Bukayo, he stepped up to take the pen and sometimes you score and sometimes you miss but the good thing is that, after, he went one-on-one with Courtois and he scored.
“That pen gave a bit of hope to them but we kept cool in those situations and we defended well and they didn’t create many chances.”