Arteta supports Martinelli recovering from PK heartbreak…just like Saka did
Mikel Arteta helped Gabriel Martinello through the heartache of a shootout when Arsenal were eliminated from the Europa League on penalties.
brazil international Martinelli saw Sporting Lisboa keeper Antonio Adán save his spot kick On a night of drama in the Emirates.
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But Arteta said, “There’s always the possibility of making a mistake when making a decision to take a penalty. But Gabi learns from it: Saka Bukayo I did two years ago.
“This result is a big blow. We really wanted to win this tournament and fight.
“Even when they didn’t do their best, the effort the boys put in and the hunger for victory they showed was incredible.
“Today was not our day. must.
“It’s true that we had chances in the last 15 minutes and chances to win in extra time.
“But there’s always a lot of uncertainty when it comes to penalties, and we lost that tonight.
“The disappointment of this outcome doesn’t go away anytime soon, but at least it gives us clarity.
“We now have 11 league games left and will have to restore our energy for Sunday’s cup final against Crystal Palace.”
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But Arteta now faces arsenal Defensive dilemma after William Saliba and Timyas Takehiro were sent off with injuries in the first 20 minutes of last night’s tie.
He said: ‘Tomi looks really serious from his immediate reaction and what he told me when he left. difficult to
“Saliba was uncomfortable and we had to put him down, but we’ve had injuries all season and we’ve always dealt with that.
“When they were released very early on, there was only one more window and one sub left, so we were really limited in our changes.
“Gabriel Jesus came back from injury and we knew the game could go into extra time so we had to substitute him at half-time.
Skipper Martin Audegaard said: “It’s a big blow to withdraw from this competition, but we must remember what a great season we had. All we can do now is look forward to the league.
“We win together, we lose together. We have to rejoice together when we are winning and cheer ourselves up when we lose.
“We did well in some periods, but in most games we weren’t at the level we should have been.
“We didn’t play the best football, we didn’t play with our normal energy, but it was a game that could have gone either way.”
