Saliba and his teammates progressed to the final fourSaliba and his teammates progressed to the final four
Saliba and his teammates progressed to the final four | AFP via Getty Images
One of Arsenal’s players impressed during a big comeback win for his nation on Sunday night.
Arsenal had a few of their stars in action on Sunday night across Nations League fixtures, with a combination of quarter-finals and promotion play-offs taking place around Europe. In the quarter-finals, we saw Spain, France, Germany and Italy all progress.
The former two required penalty shootouts, with Spain drawing both of their games with Netherlands, while France had to come back from a 2-0 first leg defeat, and they did.
Michael Olise and the in-form Ousmane Dembélé were on target to force extra-time, and there were no further goals in the extra period, resulting in penalties. The teams required seven penalties each, and France ultimately won 5-4 on penalties after a sudden death miss from Josip Stanisic, while Dayot Upamecano scored.
In Croatia, Arsenal star Saliba was criticised for his performance, with L’Equipe suggested that he could have been - and perhaps should have been - substituted, with Upamecano ultimately coming on for the injured Ibrahima Konate instead.
But this time around, Saliba was much-improved, according to the French outlet, who wrote: “Disappointing in Split, the Arsenal defender exuded a great deal of authority. Dominant in the duel, he was careful in his positioning. Unlike Upamecano, he took fewer risks in the first pass. But he constantly tried to advance the Blues' play. He hit a shot over the bar.”
Deschamps on France’s comeback
Les Bleus boss Deschamps said after the game: “It says a lot. It was hard to hear, but we had everything we needed after the first leg, even if we didn't capitalize. We turned the tables and played a very, very high-level match tonight, against a very good Croatian team. Logic would have dictated that we didn't go to a penalty shootout, but they showed with great quality, in front of 80,000 people, and it was important to get on board. We put in a great performance with young players who have less experience, but it's going to be an important match for them, in their progression."
France will now take on Spain in the semi-finals in June, and that will be a single legged semi-final in Germany, where Les Bleus lost to Spain the Euros last summer, also at the semi-final stage. The winner of that game will face the winner of Portugal and Germany at the Allianz Arena on June 8.
Saliba will hope to be part of that group, and he will be hoping to be linking up with his national side with a Champions League winners’ medal, now returning to the Gunners fully fit as they look to end the season with silverware, likely concentrating on Europe given their disappointing efforts in the Premier League since the turn of the year.
Saliba has been key to Arsenal again this season, and given the club’s bad luck with injuries, Arteta will have been keeping everything crossed that he didn’t lose another player to injury during this international break. Saliba will return safe and sound, while his centre-back partner Gabriel Magalhaes will do the same. Gabriel played in Brazil’s first game of the break, but he was suspended for the second after picking up too many yellow cards.
Your next Arsenal read, Arsenal man drops one star performance during international win