Former Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster has expressed his doubts over whether Mikel Arteta should allow Bukayo Saka to take penalties, following the winger's miss against Real Madrid. The ex-Manchester United keeper criticised the Arsenal star's failed attempt at the Bernabeu.
was given a golden opportunity to extend lead to 4-0 on aggregate in the second leg of their quarter-final clash. However, the England international's weak penalty was comfortably saved by Thibaut Courtois.
Despite the poor effort, it didn't cost Arteta's team as Saka later found the back of the net, helping Arsenal advance to the semi-finals of the competition. Nevertheless, Foster believes that the missed penalty should be a lasting memory for the Gunners' boss.
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Former and Real Madrid player Rafael van der Vaart labelled Saka a 'disgrace', suggesting that the 23-year-old had greatly overestimated himself. It appears Foster agrees with this viewpoint.
"I ain't trying to dink Thibaut Courtois! It's one of the worst penalties I've ever seen. It is so bad," Foster said on his YouTube channel, reports .
"I partially agree with the comment [from Van der Vaart] because, at that moment, I think Bukayo Saka got a bit carried away with himself and tried to show off. He tried to show off when in reality, if he had put that ball in the back of the net, the game would have been over.
"It's 10 minutes into the game. Put that ball in the back of the net and the game is done.
"If I'm one of those other Arsenal players, I'm going up to him after that penalty and going, 'Get your head in the game, k***head, don't do silly s*** like this!'... I don't want my player to be doing that.
"I don't mind a player missing the target if he's absolutely gone for it. If the goalie makes a world-class save, you put your hands up, but it wasn't a world-class save."
Foster would prefer to see Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard take the responsibility. The YouTuber replied: "Martin Odegaard, somebody where you go, 'Yeah, go on then!', just put the ball in the back of the net.
"That would cast massive doubts now if I’m the Arsenal manager and Bukayo Saka’s going to be doing that."
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