Mikel Arteta, Arsenal manager, has hailed winger, Bukayo Saka, for his amazing performance for the Gunners in the UCL match against AS Monaco on Wednesday night.
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| Bukayo Saka takes a shot with his POTM award following his beautiful performance for Arsenal in the UCL match against AS Monaco on Wednesday 11 December, 2024 at Emirates Stadium. Photo: @Arsenal |
The Spaniard also admitted, what Saka is doing for the club is not easy.
Arteta said, “Saka keeps surprising us, but it’s very difficult to do what he’s doing.”
The Arsenal boss made the statement at his press conference following his side’s easy triumph over their French visitors.
On Wednesday 11 December, 2024, Arsenal made light work of AS Monaco in the Uefa Champions League 2024/25 League Phase match, defeating the Ligue 1 side 3-0, at Emirates Stadium.
Saka netted a brace and Kai Havertz sealed it up with the third.
According to arsenal.com, in his post-victory comments, Arteta said:
on the overall performance…
“Well, very happy with the win, with a clean sheet, with the fact that we had to change a few players, players that haven’t played that much and they still performed really well and put us in a good position in the group.”
on Bukayo Saka stepping up in the Champions League…
“Well, he keeps surprising us, but that’s what he wants to do, that’s the quality he has, that’s the ambition that he’s acting and preparing himself for every single day. So, I’m not surprised, but it’s very difficult to do what he’s doing.”
on Myles Lewis-Skelly’s first Champions League start…
“Well, really proud moment. He’s one of our own, 18 years old. He makes his starting debut in the Champions League and he’s just a joy to watch him you know. It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to give a chance to somebody, to start to change his career, He certainly took the chance and it’s great that we can trust him, that he can play in this environment and on this level and I was really happy with his performance.”
on whether Arsenal are now established in the Champions League…
“I think we are enjoying our run, we keep learning. Today’s a lot of learnings to take from this game, from the experience, learning from the team and obviously we need much more.”
on if Saka is at a world-class level…
“You have to be able to do that consistently throughout many years to put yourself in that position. What he’s already done at his age, you can already put in brackets, because we can compare what he’s done in his first six years of professional football which is exceptional, you know, and that’s it and his aim is to improve. He has the players and environment to continue to do that and I’m sure he will.”
