David Raya played down his goalkeeping heroics following his man of the match display in Arsenal’s 0-0 draw against Atalanta in the Champions League.
The Gunners, without injured skipper Martin Odegaard, earned a creditable point at the home of the Europea League holders but were indebted to their No.1.
Spain international Raya, now firmly established as the club’s first choice between the sticks following the summer departure of Aaron Ramsdale, has been in superb form already this season.
The Spain international registered his fourth clean sheet in five games last night, but only after he performed an incredible double save at the start of the second half.
Raya plunged to his right to repel Mateo Retegui’s spot kick before demonstrating remarkable powers of recovery to regain his footing and leaping to his left to scoop away the forward’s header from the rebound.
A chat with Arsenal goalkeeping coach, Inaki Cana, before the penalty solidified Raya’s decision to dive to his right for Retegui’s penalty, but the Spain international confessed he should have done more to push the initial effort away from the danger area.
‘I felt it was taking a long time so I decided to go to the sideline and speak with the goalie coach to have a plan to make sure we were both on the same page and it worked out,’ Raya told CBS.
‘I was lucky enough to save it and then the rebound I just got up very quickly and tried to save the rebound and that was the main thing.
‘The rebound it went a bit in the middle. I should’ve tried to push it away but I was lucky enough to make the second ball as well.’
Raya has already made important contributions this season against the likes of Aston Villa and Wolves with saves at crucial junctures in both of those fixtures but remained modest in the wake of last night’s heroics and refused to label his double stop the best of his career.
‘It has to rank at near the top with the situation we were in at 0-0 and help the team with a point,’ he added.
‘The double save is incredible. I wouldn’t rank it the top save in my career but 100% one of the top threes.’
Arteta, meanwhile, was more effusive in his praise and is delighted the former Brentford star is proving his worth after joining the club in difficult circumstances having usurped a crowd favourite in Ramsdale.
He said: Last year was already very impressive and really good, even with a different context. This season he has started exceptionally – the save he made against Villa, today he kept us in the game. That’s the reality. You need that from your keeper at this level. I’m really happy he’s in the form he’s in at the moment.
‘I don’t know [if he is the best in the world at the moment. I haven’t seen all the goalkeepers but at the moment he’s been exceptional for us, that’s for sure.’
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