There’s only one magnificent seven Ron...that’s Saka
CRISTIANO RONALDO has spent the thick end of two decades being the greatest No.7 on the planet.
But here at The Emirates he wasn’t even the greatest one on the pitch.
There isn’t a bigger compliment in football than being compared to Ronaldo, considering his standing in the game.
But Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka had the nerve to go one better and outshine the Portuguese icon with the sort of performance that will have had England boss Gareth Southgate drooling.
Ralf Rangnick believes Manchester United need “open heart surgery” in a bid to get back to rude health.
So it felt fitting that Saka chose to take a scalpel to the soft underbelly that is now the United defence and give it the sort of filleting that will have made incoming boss Erik ten Hag feel sick to his own stomach about.
United supporters have spent months thinking Harry Maguire is the problem at the back. Think again.
It took less than three minutes for Raphael Varane and Alex Telles to make Maguire look like he was missed.
David de Gea had saved Saka’s initial shot but when Granit Xhaka fired back the loose ball both Varane AND Telles took air shots in attempting to clear it.
Having realised it wasn’t Christmas after all, Nuno Tavares went ahead and tapped in from close range.
Unlike United, Saka was just getting warmed up and more brilliance from him created a second goal for the
Gunners when he exchanged passed with Martin Odegaard and left Telles with no choice but to bundle him over.
Saka picked himself up and beat De Gea with ease from the spot to leave United staring down the barrel for the second time in less than a week.
You can’t keep a good man down and Ronaldo pulled one back as he attempted to haul his side out of the brown stuff again.
But the afternoon belonged to Saka, terrorising the United defence at will and Telles in particular, who headed back north with twisted blood.
Saka had made a mug of Nemanja Matic, almost setting up a third goal for Mohamed Elneny, before seeing a goal-bound shot of his own blocked.
He even had the cheek to intercept an attempted flick from Ronaldo as he demonstrated his appetite for defending as well as going forward.
Saka is still just 20 but is becoming one of the leaders of a Mikel Arteta side now showing genuine signs of a bright future.
The fortitude and character he’s shown since being made one of the scapegoats for England’s shootout defeat to Italy at the Euro 2020 final has been impressive and heartwarming in equal measure.
He was given a standing ovation when he limped off with 15 minutes remaining.
It wasn’t the first – and it certainly won’t be the last.