Bukayo Saka on Arsenal’s ‘big statement’ beating Real Madrid, bouncing back from penalty miss and facing ‘different’ PSG | OneFootball

Bukayo Saka says facing PSG in the Champions League semi-finals will be very different to when they came up against them in the league stage.

Arsenal comfortably beat the French champions 2-0 earlier in the competition thanks to goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka.

But since their mixed form earlier on in the season, PSG have rapidly improved with Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final second-leg defeat to Aston Villa only their second loss in all competitions since 30 November last year.

Despite a nervous second-leg, PSG came through as 5-4 winners against Villa to set up the clash with Arsenal and Saka expects a more difficult test this time around.

“Much different,” he said when asked how different it would be coming up against them now.

“I see them playing with much more confidence. We will be ready and it will be a very good match.”

Saka’s return from injury proved instrumental in helping Arsenal into the semi-finals with two fantastic performances against Real Madrid.

He bounced back from an early penalty miss in the second leg at the Bernabeu to score in the second half and says he never lost his confidence despite that.

“It can happen,” he said. “I tried something, but it didn’t work. I was confident I was going to score tonight.

“I learn in every moment. Tonight, I am more focused on enjoying the win and then I will review it properly.”

Saka also says reaching the semi-finals of the competition is a significant milestone for his side.

“We showed that we can play in Europe and beat one of the best teams in the world, home and away,” he said. “Very proud of this team.

“Tonight was a big statement and I am so happy for everyone.

“We felt comfortable. We are quite good when we get into a low block. It took a lot of running but we managed to do it.”