But, as Tottenham Hotspur found out last weekend and as Manchester City will discover again this, Mikel Arteta’s side can be pretty damn belligerent too when they want to be.
After restricting Spurs to an XG of just 0.7 – William Saliba and matchwinner Gabriel Magalhaes justifying Rio Ferdinand’s ‘best in Europe’ claim – this time it was the turn of another free-wheeling, usually high-scoring side to bang their heads in vain against Arsenal’s brick wall backline.
On the rare occasions that Atalanta did manage to break through, Thomas Partey gifting the Europa League holders a penalty just after half-time, goalkeeper David Raya would come to the rescue and secure yet another clean sheet.
First denying Mateo Retegui from 12 yards, the Spain international then launched himself to his left to keep out the Argentine-born Italy striker for the second time in a matter of seconds.
If his penalty save was a little straightforward – Retegui’s spot-kick was poor – then his remarkable reaction stop on the rebound was anything but.
David Raya of Arsenal saves a penalty taken by Mateo Retegui of Atalanta during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD1 match between At...
Penalty hero David Raya saves Arsenal in Atalanta clash
“I feel sorry for the lads, we played a great match,” Retegui told Sky Italia, squandering comfortably the best chances in a game short on goal-mouth activity. “I missed the penalty, but you learn from your mistakes.
“The goalkeeper made a great save but, on the second ball, I made a mistake. I didn’t see him because he got up quickly.”
Raya, who’s form since arriving from Brentford forced Aaron Ramsdale into a fresh start at Southampton, continues to be arguably the most underrated goalkeeper in the game. More heroics like this – on a stage as wide as the Champions League – and the one-time Blackburn Rovers glovesman will finally start to get the credit he deserves.
“It was an incredible double save by Raya. Incredible,” sighs Ademola Lookman, the former Everton youngster who’s hat-trick stunned Bayer Leverkusen in May’s Europa final, via the UEFA website.
“We take it game by game. It’s the first (group-stage match), so we’ll see. It was a balanced match.”
“It’s a good point,” adds Gasperini, in quotes reported by Tuttomercatoweb, after lauding Arteta in the build-up to Thursday’s clash. “It’s normal, there’s the regret of the missed penalty. Going ahead at that moment would have been a reward for the whole team.
“It was a very useful match for us. We played against a great team, we come out of this match with a performance from the attackers in the defensive phase that had never been there before. This helped the collective performance of the whole defence.
“The penalty save was good, but the recovery on the second header was fantastic.”
A point on the board in the Champions League
The concern, for Arteta, will be that Arsenal never really threatened a goal of their own on the night. With Gabriel Martinelli firing their best chance a mile over the crossbar – no goals now in his last 17 Gunners appearances – the visitors XG didn’t even creep over one on the night.
Fortunately, on an off night for Arsenal’s forward players, the Premier League challengers can rely upon their stalwarts at the other end to bail them out.
“I was lucky to go in the right direction and save it,” Raya, who now has four clean sheets in five games, tells TNT Sport when running through his Retegui denial. “I was lucky to get the rebound as well. I was quite quick to get up and save it.
“It’s great to be able to keep a clean sheet and help the team get a point. It took a long time to confirm the penalty, so I made the decision to go to the bench and went to talk to the goalkeeping coach (Inaki Cana) about where to throw myself.
“He helped me a lot in every way, so credit to him too.”
Raya, interestingly, could have been joined at Arsenal by another Spanish stopper. A £21 million bid for Espanyol’s Joan Garcia, however, failed in August.
0 Comments