Mikel Arteta admits he wanted to “slap” Arsenal star for one moment against Real Madrid | OneFootball

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has joked that he wanted to slap Bukayo Saka after his poor penalty was saved in the first half of last night’s win over Real Madrid.

Arteta could afford to joke about it afterwards as the Gunners went on to win the game, with Saka later scoring in the second half before a late winner from Gabriel Martinelli.

It ended up being a great night in Arsenal’s history as they beat Real 2-1 away from home, and 5-1 on aggregate in this quarter-final tie.

It means Arsenal are now in the Champions League semi-finals for only the third time in their history, with Paris Saint-Germain up next for the north London giants.

Saka may have messed up his penalty, but the England international performed superbly in both legs and Arteta’s comment was surely just tongue-in-cheek.

Bukayo Saka misses his penalty for Arsenal against Real Madrid (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka’s penalty miss

“I would have liked to slap him. But the player has to make the decision, and he was bold enough to do it,” Arteta said after the game, as quoted by BBC Sport.

“That could have been a turning point emotionally in the game because it gave them a lot of belief. But then the way he handled the situation, and the way he played afterwards was incredible.”

Saka is normally pretty reliable from the penalty spot, but he certainly got it badly wrong as Thibaut Courtois had little trouble saving his attempted Panenka.

Arsenal fans will be relieved this didn’t cost their team the game, as we’ve seen Madrid come back from large deficits before, especially in the Champions League.

The Spanish giants have so often found something to overpower their opponents in this competition, but in truth they rarely troubled Arsenal in either game.

Arteta has done great work with this Arsenal side and they’ll increasingly feel they can go all the way and win this trophy for the first time in their history.