"What was he doing? What was he thinking?" - Chris Sutton left perplexed by Arsenal star's actions in their 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich
Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton has criticized Bukayo Saka for not staying on his feet to score the winner for Arsenal against Bayern Munich on Tuesday (April 9).
Saka opened the scoring 12 minutes into the first-leg UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie before Serge Gnabry (18') and Harry Kane (32', P) handed their team the lead. Leandro Trossard leveled matters with 76 minutes on the clock at the Emirates.
Saka had a golden chance to win the game deep into second-half stoppage time when he rounded Manuel Neuer to have a gaping goal at his disposal. Instead, he went down, supposedly initiating contact with his right leg.
Had he stayed on his feet, there was every chance the England international scored the winner to hand his team a precious first-leg lead. Criticizing Saka's decision, Sutton said on the It's All Kicking Off podcast (via TheBootRoom):
"I’m still trying to understand what he was actually thinking because he takes a really good touch, Saka maneuvers the ball and you think he can just get onto it. There was a defender or two back but with his ability, he’d have just gone round the goalkeeper. But he chose to try and win a penalty. What was he thinking? He carried his run on, he initiated the contact with Neuer...
"...I’m sure he would’ve scored. When you think, he doesn’t have any excuse really. Every time you watch him play, he is so nimble, isn’t he? He’s so dainty the way he can maneuver the ball, it’s glued to his feet. It was a great change of direction. What was he doing? What was he thinking?"
The second leg of the tie will be played at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday (April 17).
Mikel Arteta 'proud' of Arsenal reaction after going 2-1 down against Bayern Munich
Bukayo Saka's early goal blew the roof off the Emirates but there was still a layer of anxiety amongst the home fans given Bayern Munich's record against Arsenal.
Bayern had won the last three matches against the Gunners by 5-1 scorelines and eliminated them in all four European knockout ties before this match. The first leg in north London seemed destined to end in the visitors' favor when Harry Kane scored Bayern's second.
Thomas Tuchel even felt his team were denied a nailed-on penalty in the 67th minute when Gabriel Magalhaes handled David Raya's goal-kick. Despite the setbacks, Arsenal didn't give up hope and Leandro Trossard scored the equalizer 14 minutes from time.
Praising his team's comeback spirit after the match, Arteta told the club's official website:
"I am very proud, now I sense the belief there, we are going to go to Munich and have the chance to win it and we’re going to be better in certain areas and that’s how we are going to prepare [for] it."
Arsenal haven't made the semifinals of the competition since the 2008-09 season when they fell at the penultimate hurdle against Manchester United (agg. 1-4).