Bukayo Saka told his Arsenal teammates that Tuesday was a chance to make a statement, before scoring the team’s second goal against PSG.
Speaking to CBS Sports after Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, Bukayo Saka suggested that the team haven’t had enough of those performances against Europe’s top teams.
The winger revealed that he’d told his teammates they needed to make a statement against PSG, and they now need to follow it up with strong displays away from home.
“When I was speaking with the boys in the team talk before the game, I made sure I said ‘today we need to make a big statement’,” Saka said.
“When we play in Europe against the big teams, I don’t think we’ve shown our full quality, and the full standards that we (usually) show.
“At home, we showed [that] today, but we do need to do that away.”
Arsenal will have a chance to test themselves away from home against a top European side next month, as they travel away to Inter Milan on November 6th.
In the meantime, the fans can revel in what was an impressive win over PSG, thanks in part to Saka himself.
The Gunners’ captain on the night curled in a free-kick to put his team 2-0 up, the club’s first free-kick goal in the Champions League since Thierry Henry in 2002.
There was one heartwarming moment involving Saka before the match, as he led Arsenal out hand in hand with Raheem Sterling’s seven-year-old son Thiago.
Sterling himself is still trying to break into the Gunners starting lineup, after joining on loan from Chelsea. The winger has a goal and an assist in his first 124 minutes in Arsenal colours.
