Real Madrid ‘terrorised’ by Arsenal star with three superstars ‘anonymous’ – journalist
Journalist Alex Crook felt Bukayo Saka ‘terrorised’ Real Madrid in an ‘utterly dominant’ Arsenal performance, during which three of Real’s superstars were ‘anonymous’.
Arsenal might not have expected to have been so good against European juggernauts Real. Los Blancos almost always reach the final stages of the Champions League, while the Gunners are battling for their first semi-final place since 2008/09.
But they wiped the floor with Real in the first leg of the quarter-final, a pair of Declan Rice free-kicks stunning the Spanish outfit, before a Mikel Merino goal capped off the 3-0 scoreline in the first leg.
A lot of the plaudits have rightly gone to Rice for two sumptuous free-kicks, but winger Saka has also received a lot of praise, with talkSPORT journalist Crook among those in support of his performance.
He felt Arsenal were ‘utterly dominant’ and stated Saka ‘absolutely terrorised’ Real. On the flip side of Arsenal being very good, he felt Real were poor, with ‘Mbappe, Jude and Vini anonymous’.
Real striker Kylian Mbappe has three shots, two of which were on target, Jude Bellingham created two chances and had two shots, and Vinicius Junior – given a 5.9 rating on FotMob – didn’t put a single one of his three shots on target.
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Saka’s performance just a couple of games after returning from injury has been hailed by many, with former Gunner Cesc Fabregas mentioning the performance after the game.
“I know that all the highlights will be on Declan Rice and rightly so,” he said.
“But for me, Bukayo Saka, a special mention, because in football, when you see special talent like that, to do what he did against Real Madrid, hats off to him!”
In 74 minutes, Saka created one chance and drew three fouls, putting Arsenal in good positions for Rice to take advantage of.
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