Arsenal star Bukayo Saka has been defended after being labelled “a disgrace” by former Tottenham midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart in midweek.
The Gunners headed into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid with a 3-0 lead after a brilliant display at the Emirates Stadium a week earlier.
Saka had an amazing chance to put Arsenal ahead from a penalty early on against Los Blancos but the England international decided to try and loft the ball into the net, which backfired as Thibaut Courtois easily saved.
Arsenal did eventually take the lead on 65 minutes when Saka produced a beautiful finish over Courtois with Real Madrid equalising shortly after following a William Saliba mistake.
But Gabriel Martinelli sealed a 2-1 win on the night and a historic 5-1 aggregate victory over the La Liga giants with Arsenal now facing Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals.
Former Tottenham midfielder Van der Vaart would not forget about Saka’s penalty in the aftermath of the match and branded the 23-year-old “a disgrace”.
Van der Vaart hit out at Saka, the Dutchman said: “I think this is total overestimation of himself. In the sense of: I’m going to steal the show here. While this is a very normal player, who has to do his best every day. What he’s doing now is just a disgrace.”
In a dig at Van der Vaart, Voetbal International reporter Suleyman Ozturk brushed off Saka’s penalty miss and highlighted what he does better than Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe.
The journalist started: “Of course I heard what was said about Bukayo Saka during the break. I found out during the break that he is not a good footballer at all based on one penalty.”
Ozturk added: “Saka is still quite young and very important for this team. I thought he played well, apart from the penalty. A great right winger, who has everything. You can blame [Kylian] Mbappe for never defending, but Saka does.”
He continued: “He is decisive like Vinicius Jr and is therefore three players in one. When someone says that to me, I ask myself: what is wrong with you, things are not going well with you. Then you must not have watched Saka’s last hundred games.”
There was lots of praise for Saka too with former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan insisting that the Arsenal star is now “the best winger in the world”.
Jordan said on talkSPORT: “I think he is the best winger in the world. I think he is better than Vinicius Junior. I think he is more effective, and him coming back into the side has given a shot in the Arsenal arm that has obviously created outcomes in this particular game.
“Declan Rice, both performances – first leg at the Emirates and the second leg for a different reason, in a different way at the Bernabeu – was a compelling force.
“But Saka, despite the fact that he takes a Panenka and misses it, he goes and rectifies that by scoring a goal.
“I think he’s a wonderful player and I think he was a massive, massive miss for Arsenal in that period of time (when he was injured).”