Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya He was praised by his manager Mikel Arteta and Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini after the Spaniard's miraculous double save earned his side a 0-0 draw in the Champions League on Thursday.
But for Raya to save Matthew ReteguiAfter scoring a penalty in the 51st minute and somehow leaping towards their own goal to deflect the same player's header, Arsenal could have started their group games with a damaging away defeat to the Serie A side.
“At that moment I witnessed two of the best saves I have seen in my career from David,” Arteta said.
“If you can't win, you have to take the point. We started well, but then we lost control and were very inconsistent. Defensively we didn't suffer, except for the penalty.”
Atalanta coach Gasperini was equally astonished.
“He's a cat. The first save is good but the rebound is incredible. The goalkeeper was fundamental,” said the Italian coach.
Raya was modest about his effort, saying he had been lucky and also paid tribute to Arsenal's goalkeeping coach Iñaki Cana, who he consulted while VAR was reviewing the penalty decision.
“It took a long time to decide if it was a penalty so I made the decision to go to the sideline and I went to talk to the goalkeeping coach about where to go and where not to go,” he said.
“He helped me a lot in every way, so the credit goes to him.”
While it was a solid start for Arsenal, Arteta was less than pleased with his side's performance as they offered little in terms of attacking threat against last season's Europa League winners.
“We had moments with the ball but we never managed to dominate it or create any threat,” he said.
“During the first 25 minutes we were able to interpret their approach very well. After that we lost control of the match.”
Information from Reuters contributed to this report.
