18 May, 2006: Barcelona 2-1 Arsenal
Why is that date important? Arsenal haven’t been in the Champions League final for the past 20 years, and that’s changed, all because of a 24-year-old from Ealing, Bukayo Saka. While the story of an out-and-out Arsenal youth product winning them perhaps their most important game in the past two decades is in itself interesting, there’s more to the tale.
Why is that date important? Arsenal haven’t been in the Champions League final for the past 20 years, and that’s changed, all because of a 24-year-old from Ealing, Bukayo Saka. While the story of an out-and-out Arsenal youth product winning them perhaps their most important game in the past two decades is in itself interesting, there’s more to the tale.
Exactly six years ago, 11 miles from where Saka scored the winner for Arsenal, he had arguably the worst day of his professional career, missing a penalty in the decisive Euros final against Italy. While it happens to everyone, the hate that the then 18-year-old had to face: including receiving racist abuse was quite devastating.
Since that unfortunate incident, the limelight on Saka has only become profound, with critics equally looking at the youngster’s performance microscopically, with hate comments still reeling in. However, the negativity never broke Saka.
On the biggest night of the season for Arsenal against the toughest defence in modern-day football, Saka stepped up and how, as the winger scored the most decisive goal of Arsenal’s roller-coaster of a season. It hasn’t been the best of seasons for the youngster, who had accounted for 2,900+ minutes in the entire season before the start of the second semifinal in London.
Not just the minutes, Saka’s season has been quite tough, as the 24-year-old has struggled with injury, with form, as the winger has only scored 11 goals, and assisted six times for the Gunners in the entire season.
“It is not easy, what can I say? I don’t want to say I’m struggling or anything, make people feel sorry for me. As soon as I step myself on the pitch, I have to be ready for whatever critics have to say, if I don’t perform. That’s the reality at this level, we are competing for some big things, Champions League and Premier League, so the stakes are high, if you don’t perform, you will get criticised,” Saka told CBS Sports Golazo.
Why him? After all, this story is about Arsenal’s famous Hale End, the academy where Saka joined when he was just seven years old, and over the years, has not just become a permanent fixture in the first-team but also was the captain on the night.
"It had to be someone very special and certainly he [Saka] is very special with me and the boys and everyone attached with this club," Arteta told Amazon Prime. "If it had to be someone scoring that goal, it probably had to be him."
Saka’s goal wasn’t spectacular, by any measure, it was the ‘biggest goal of his life’. His positioning was on point, sandwiching himself in between two Atletico defenders to break the offside trap, and be quick on the rebound to finish the move.
“Today has been a very special moment for me, for my family and for all Arsenal fans. Yes, I have been working on my movement, and I have been trying to read my teammates, Leo [Trossard] is someone I understand, sometimes it works, and thank you god, one of the most important goals of my career,” Saka told CBS Sports Golazo.
“I can’t describe it, just speaking to the boys, everyone congratulating, and I haven’t taken it all in, I have played a lot of finals, and hope this one goes better than the last few ones. It is a beautiful story, and I thank god everyday, it has been my dream for a kid in Hale End.”
It isn’t a story about just talent, it is a story about redemption, it is about one of Hale End’s brightest talents conquering one of the biggest stages in world football, after all the racism that he’s faced. That’s what makes Saka’s tale, a fairy tale.