Arsenal star responds to ‘best in the world’ claim ahead of Gunners vs Paris Saint-Germain clash
Arsenal defender William Saliba has responded to claims that he is the best defender in the world ahead of the Gunners’ clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
The France international has formed one of, if not the best, central defensive partnerships in world football with Gabriel Magalhaes at Arsenal.
His Brazilian team-mate has been injured in recent weeks but the combination of Saliba and Jakub Kiwior has proven to be reliable.
The Champions League remains Arsenal’s last opportunity to win a trophy this season after finishing behind champions Liverpool in the Premier League.
And, after their impressive performance against Real Madrid over two legs in the quarter-finals, Arsenal will be going into another two-legged affair against Paris Saint-Germain with confidence.
Saliba has made a couple of high-profile mistakes in recent matches, including one to allow Vinicius Junior to score in their 5-1 aggregate victory over Real Madrid, but there have still been suggestions recently that he is the best defender in the world right now.
The Arsenal centre-back has played those claims down, he told Telefoot: “I think I am one of the best, but not yet the best defender in the world. I can still become much better one day, I hope to improve.”
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Former England manager Fabio Capello is tipping Arsenal to beat PSG and move into the final of the Champions League.
Ahead of the first leg on Tuesday, Capello said: “Arsenal have it all: quality, balance on the pitch and good physical condition, like PSG at the moment.
“From that point of view, both teams are equal. But I think Arsenal have something extra right now: quality and physical strength.”
Ahead of the match, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta urged the fans to help the team beat PSG, he said: “The message is that they have to play every ball with us. So I would say bring your boots, your shinpads, your shorts, your T-shirts! And let’s play on Tuesday night all together here to have one of the most amazing nights at the Emirates.”
After the 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace on Wednesday, Arteta didn’t want to use the Champions League build-up as an excuse for the poor result.
Arteta said: “I don’t want to use that excuse. After Madrid, we had a game against Ipswich, which is very tough, and we did incredibly well.
“And today, we were simply not at the standards required to really be at our level to fill that gap between the two teams, and the game was always dead in the air. When that happens and you are ahead, you have to kill it and take the three points.
“I’m very disappointed with the result,” he added, “and disappointed as well with some parts of the performance. It was a tough match, and credit to them for the way they set up, and they made life difficult for us.
“But we were twice ahead and without playing our best game because we never found the consistency in our play and phases to completely dominate it, grab the game and take it where we want it.”
