Rio Ferdinand has completely changed his mind on a ‘world-class’ Arsenal player after observing his performance during the Gunners’ 2-1 victory against Real Madrid on Wednesday. The Gunners won the match 5-1 on aggregate.
The Champions League semi-finals are likely to be a mouthwatering matchup between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain. Arsenal advanced to the semi-finals of the competition after putting up a professional display against Real Madrid.
Kylian Mbappe, Vini Jr., Jude Bellingham, and Rodrygo were among the players that attempted to overturn Arsenal’s three-goal advantage from the first leg, but they were unable.
The striker for Arsenal, however, was the one that Ferdinand referred to as “world-class” following his performance at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Ferdinand stated, “Saka, in terms of defining and being decisive,” while he was appearing on TNT Sports.
“I have argued quite a few times over the years over whether or not he is of world-class calibre. Completely.
“A football player of world-class calibre who will now be responsible for deciding matches for the remainder of his career at the highest level.
As of now, they have emerged victorious. Yes, I understand that it is only one game out of two games. Nevertheless, it is an opportunity to reflect on the fact that, “Okay, I’m at the top table, and I’m actually sitting here comfortably, and I’ve overshadowed the people who were anticipated to be better than me.”
“It’s a great confidence boost.”
This follows Ferdinand’s prior discussion over whether or not the forward for Arsenal and England was of “top-level” quality.
In February of 2024, Ferdinand made the following statement: “I believe Saka is more about, he needs the opportunity to perform at that platform, that level, consistently, and then you can consider him to be of world-class calibre.”
Since that time, Saka has, without a doubt, accomplished a great deal for England in the 2024 European Championship and has been an outstanding player for Arsenal throughout the 2024–2025 season, contributing 11 goals and 14 assists in 29 games.
On Wednesday evening, Ferdinand posted a message on X to convey his thoughts to the supporters of the Gunners.
On the website X, he wrote, “There you go, Arsenal fans.”
You are free to cease tweeting about it at this point.
For as long as I can remember, I have been a huge admirer of Bukayo, and I have even worn an England shirt. Simply said, I wanted to witness him perform at his best in the most important matches of the Champions League, against the top teams in the world! Due respect.”
Saka’s evening got off to a shaky start as Real Madrid custodian Thibaut Courtois saved his penalty kick in the first half. However, he made up for his mistake by scoring Arsenal’s first goal of the evening with a chipped finish that was very well executed.
Mikel Arteta, who is 43 years old, quipped that he wanted to “slap” Bukayo Saka after Saka failed to score the penalty. Arteta’s comment was related to the fact that Saka lost the chance.
The statement that Arteta made was, “I didn’t want to die, but maybe I wanted to slap him.” The choice was taken by him, and he was courageous enough to carry it out, yet he failed. My first concern was with the emotional aspect of the situation. What it might be able to accomplish for us.
The personality that he shown at such a young age, when he was playing for the very first game at this stadium, is quite remarkable.
He continued by saying, “It is without a doubt one of the best nights in my entire football career.” This is a very remarkable one. We competed against the squad that has won the most European Cups (15 in all throughout their career). The fact that we were able to win the tie in the manner that we did requires us to feel a great deal of pride.
