The youngster spared Arsenal’s blushes against Benfica in the Europa League, but had a word of warning for his teammates.
Arsenal cannot ‘put a foot wrong’ in the second leg of their Europa League last-32 tie against Benfica, says Bukayo Saka, who can still vividly recall the club’s shock defeat to Olympiakos from last season.
The 19-year-old winger scored the equalizer on Thursday night’s opening leg in Rome to seal Arsenal a 1-1 draw against Benfica, and a crucial away goal advantage, after Pizzi’s penalty had put the Portuguese giants ahead.
But Arsenal were guilty of failing to convert several opportunities, especially in the first half. Now they must avoid a repeat of last season, which saw them blow a 1-0 first leg away win in the last-16 stage to lose 2-1 to Olympiakos at home after a last-minute goal in extra-time.
“It is about managing the game,” Saka told BT Sport. “Last year when we went out to Olympiakos, we conceded a silly goal. We can’t put a foot wrong because if we do we will make it difficult for ourselves.
“We had a lot of chances tonight. We dominated the whole game. They got a lucky penalty which I don’t think was. We had to react well.
“We got a goal back and could have gone on to win it. It’s not the worst result, we got an away goal.”
The second leg of the Europa League last-32 tie between Arsenal and Benfica takes place next Thursday at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Greece, which incidentally is the home ground of Olympiakos.
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