Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori scored his first goal on his first start for the club against Premier League holders Manchester City. A few weeks before his first start, he said that he would offer ‘more’ to the team if he played.
A left footed curler from the edge of the box pulled Arsenal level in the game on Sunday. Gabriel then put the Gunners ahead before the break. Leandro Trossard was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for kicking the ball away, the second time this has happened to the Gunners this season.
Arsenal played with 10 men for the whole second half, and shut out City till a late goal from John Stones rescued a point for the league leaders. After the game, Manchester City players made a whole lot of comments on Arsenal’s approach to the match.
What Riccardo Calafiori said days before his first start for Arsenal
Before he was named as a starter on Sunday, the Italian defender was full of confidence and backed himself to break into the back four, which was one of the best defences in the league last year:
“It’s a huge challenge but I knew that already before I came and I can give my qualities, my skills to the team and I’m happy to do it. I know I can give more, for sure,” said Calafiori.
“The competition is good because it pushes everyone in training and in the game as well.”
“I am already settled in. The team has been amazing with me and now it’s time to play,” said Calafiori. “The training has been different but, as I have said before, everybody is ready to help me. They are doing really good for me, I’m learning quickly so now I can stay on the pitch and help the team.
“But I have understood already and, for sure, the intensity is so high and in the game you can see that because the level is amazing in the Premier League and Champions League. But when you play at the highest level, every game is tough. You don’t have so much time to think about it.”
Italian defender says he “knew” Manchester City ahead of the game
Calafiori was also upbeat about Arsenal’s chances of beating the league holders:
“We believe we can win, for sure. Every game we have to win. That’s our belief and our strength of feeling. We can do it. I know Manchester City pretty good already. I don’t need somebody telling me about City – we know all about them.
“But we don’t need to speak about them because we have to focus on ourselves and we can beat them if we do our things well. We have a good spirit, a really good team and from now we should think about Sunday because that is going to be really tough as well.”
Sunday’s game ended in a 2-2 draw but sparked a lot of talking points, and set the tone for an exciting title race between Arsenal and Manchester City.
