William Saliba got on the scoresheet as Arsenal secured a 2-2 draw with Sporting Lisbon that makes them favourites to progress from their Europa League last-16 tie.
After the match, the France international spoke to BT Sport. Here’s what he had to say.
On the performance…
Today it wasn’t an easy game but we scored the first goal and then they brought it back to 1-1 and then made it 2-1. As always we never give up and we scored the second goal. We have a game back home and we will give everything to win. We conceded two goals and the most important thing is that we didn’t lose and we have another game.
On being disappointed about falling behind after taking the lead…
Yes, of course. It’s always bad to concede two goals and one from a set piece and one from a counter-attack but it’s ok, we didn’t lose, it’s the most important [thing] and we have the next game at home.
On playing alongside Jakub Kiwior…
It’s his first game and he played well. For me, as well, I played the first time with him. We did well. Unfortunately, we concede two goals but it’s ok, we played well and that’s good.
On how much training he’d done with Kiwior…
Yeah, we’ve done a lot together because in training, we change the pair always. That’s why we played good together. It wasn’t bad to play with him for the first time.
On where the result leaves Arsenal in the tie…
It’s ok, it’s ok. We wanted to win here but it’s ok, we didn’t lose. We have to be focused on the next game and we are lucky because we play at home and we’ll give everything as always.
On what another comeback says about Arsenal’s mentality…
We know that they can score but we know that we can come back always. We never give up and that’s a good mentality from the team. We will do this every time. It’s always better to lead but when we don’t lead we have to come back.
Yes yes Saliba. Top man.
Agreed, he’s as composed off the pitch as he is on it.
He’s growing into a great defender. He had a solid performance.
And a solid interview too. His English has really come on, managed to answer some stupidly worded questions. What Unai Emery would give for a performance like that.
He summed up exactly my reading of it: It’s OK.
Reading between the lines here, I’m getting the feeling he’s glad we didn’t lose, that we give everything, and that we have the next game at home.
Don’t know where you got that from. Don’t put words in his mouth!
It’s ok, it’s ok. Take it easy on him