Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya received high praise from both his manager Mikel Arteta and Atalanta’s Gian Piero Gasperini following a remarkable double save that helped secure a 0-0 draw in the Champions League on Thursday.
Had it not been for Raya’s exceptional stop of Mateo Retegui’s penalty in the 51st minute, along with his swift reaction to deny Retegui’s subsequent header, Arsenal could have faced a frustrating loss in their opening group match against the Serie A team.
“I witnessed two of the best saves I’ve ever seen in my career from David in that moment,” Arteta said.
“If you can’t win, you have to take the point. We started well, then we lost control and were very inconsistent. We didn’t suffer defensively, apart from the penalty.”
Atalanta manager Gasperini was equally in awe.
“He’s a cat. The first save is good, but the rebound is unbelievable. The goalkeeper has been crucial,” the Italian coach said.
Raya was modest about his effort, saying he had been lucky and also paid tribute to Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach, Inaki Cana, whom he consulted while VAR checked 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 said.
“He helped me a lot in every aspect, so credit to him.”
While it was a solid start by Arsenal, Arteta was less happy with his team’s performance as they offered little in the way of attacking threat against last season’s Europa League winners.
“We had moments with the ball, but we never got it into dominance or threat,” he said.
“The first 25 minutes we read their approach really well. After that we lost control of the game.”