Kepa Arrizabalaga had the final say after a marathon penalty shootout to knock Crystal Palace out of the Carabao Cup and send us through to the semi-final.
After we conceded an injury-time equaliser, the game went to spot kicks, and neither side missed from the first 15 attempts from 12 yards.
But then Kepa hurled himself to his right to keep out Maxence Lacroix’s effort, and spark celebrations at Emirates Stadium.
“We are in the next round, we're happy,” he said afterwards. “I think we made a huge effort. We should have scored, I think, a couple in the first half. We played so well. Then the second half was more like 50-50.
“Even like this, we had good chances. We’ve conceded in a couple of games in the last minute so it's something that we have to look at. And then credit to the guys, they took amazing penalties. They keep us in the game, and they give me an opportunity to make a save.”
It was a quick turnaround after conceding the equaliser – five minutes into injury time and then gearing up for penalties, and Kepa said his preparation played a big part.
“Emotionally, you have to be focused, be strong, because obviously when you concede in the last minute and then you have to go to penalties, you need to 100 per cent be focused on your penalty takers, you need to save. So it was a change of mindset, and it worked.
“We’re prepared for everything, every possible scenario. We were playing against a very strong team, so that can happen.
“So we talked about it before. We have a very good group of goalkeepers, we talk between each other and try to be focused on the next penalty, always the next one.”
The win sets up a two-legged meeting with Kepa’s former club Chelsea, with the first game away from home in the new year
“Right now, if you want a trophy, that's something that we want. We have to fight against good teams. I think both semi-finals, are big games, it's going to be tough, but we'll prepare well the game. We'll be ready and we'll go for it.”
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