Mikel Arteta heaped praise on Arsenal youngster Ethan Nwaneri as his goal against Girona helped Arsenal secure a spot in the last 16 of the Champions League. (More Football News)
Arnꦜaut Danjuma had given Girona a 28th minute lead before Jorginho restored parity from the penalty spot after Thomas Partey was fouled by Arnau Martinez.&nbsꦕp;
And the victory was sealed three minutes before the break when Nwaneri brilliantly cut inside from the right before sending a left-footed effort ꦚpast Pau Lopez.
At 17 years and ౠ314 days-old, he became the second-y𝔍oungest Englishman to score in a Champions League game after Jude Bellingham (17y 289d - Borussia Dortmund v Manchester City in April 2021.
During 🥂the match, Nwaneri also had the joint-most shots (three, level with Raheem Ste♉rling) for Arsenal, while the youngsters' nine crosses were the most for the Gunners.
Nwaneri has impressed for Arsenal in the absence of Bukayo Saka, 💖and Arteta lauded Nwaneri's display at the Estadi Montilivi on Wednesday.
"That's whಞat we love about him, he's will💛ing to take the initiative to make things happen," Arteta told reporters.
"He's very aggressive when he's got the ball and so confident, because before that he had another action, a very similar one, he made the rig🌳ht choice, he went for it.
"He has the capacity to finish from every an🎃gle basically, and it was a very important goal.
"It's very natural for him, you can see the way he 🍌takes the touches, how he beats people and then the technique he's got, he's so precise in his finishing, put him a lot of times in that situ🌳ation and the outcome will be good."
The result saw A💖rsenal finish third in the Champions League table, meaning a potential tie with either Juventus, Feyenoord, PSV or AC Milan in the last 16 awaits.
In fact, Arsenal have now progressed from the group stage / league phase in each of their last 16 seasons 🤪in the Champions League, last failing to reach the knockout rounds (when appearing in the competition) in 2002-03.
But Arteta had to do so without first-choice goalkeeper David Raya in his ranks, with the Spaniard not included in the squad for🎃 their win over Girona.
Instead, Brazilian Neto made his debut for the Gunners, and could d🥀eputise this weekend for their huge clash against Manchester City in the Premier Le♊ague.
"He (Raya) certainly could not pl🔜ay, he's injured and that's it. Let's see how it goes," Arteta said.
