On Thursday, September 19, David Raya performed a remarkable double-save to help Arsenal defeat Atalanta and earn a point in the UEFA Champions League. For his effort, Raya garnered a lot of praise.
On Thursday, September 19, the Arsenal goalkeeper made one of the greatest double saves in recent memory to help his team draw even with Atalanta in their Champions League opener. After Thomas Partey was sent off for bringing down Ederson inside the box, Atalanta was awarded a penalty, and Raya made the save in the 51st minute. There was a significant lag while the VAR reviewed the referee’s call.
But after the dust settled, Raya was up to the task, diving to his right to block Mateo Retegui’s penalty. Retegui of Atalanta, though, felt he was going to give his team the lead as the ball would rebound right into his path. To save the day for the Gunners, Raya leaped to his left and dove to claw the ball away from him. After that, Arsenal would hold on to ultimately earn a point.
Both Gian Piero Gasperini, the manager of Atalanta, and Mikel Arteta, Raya’s manager, praised the player for his double save. It was the best Arteta had seen in his career, he declared.
“I witnessed two of the best saves I’ve ever seen in my career from David in that moment,” Arteta stated.
Gasperini remarked that Raya was as agile as a cat and expressed equal amazement at his double-save.
“He is a feline. Although the initial save is impressive, the rebound is astounding. The Italian coach stated, “The goalkeeper has been crucial.
Raya acknowledged the assistance of Inaki Cana, Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach, but downplayed his penalty save, attributing it to pure luck. Raya credited Cana’s advice for the pivotal stop and disclosed that he had conferred with him during the VAR review of the penalty decision.
“It was a long time to decide if it was a penalty so I took the decision to go to the side and I went to speak with the goalie coach about where to go and where not to go,” he explained.
“He helped me a lot in every aspect so credit to him.”
On Sunday, September 22, Arsenal will take on Manchester City in a highly anticipated match.
