David Raya hailed Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana for his spectacular double save, which won the Gunners a point against Atalanta.
After a lacklustre first half, Mikel Arteta’s side suffered an early second-half setback when referee Clement Turpin gave the home side a penalty for a challenge by Thomas Partey on Ederson.
Replays mainly supported the French official’s on-field decision, but it did not prevent a long VAR review, which Raya took advantage of by speaking with Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach.
When play continued, the Spanish custodian saved Mateo Retegui’s shot before rebounding back up to deflect the Italian striker’s rebound away from the goal.
Raya, who made his loan move to the north London club permanent this summer, admitted that his conversation with Cana had a role in his success.
+5View gallery
David Raya was seen in conversation with Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana (left) before his penalty save
+5View gallery
On his decision to go to the bench during the pause in play, he added: ‘I took the decision to go to the sideline because there was a long wait so I just spoke with the goalkeeping coach to get more certain about where to go.
‘He helped me a lot in every aspect so all credit to him as well. He does the all the work with everything so credit to him as well for the save.’
Raya’s heroics were hailed by his teammates immediately after the occurrence, after the final whistle, and later by his manager, Arteta, who characterised it as ‘certainly one of the best saves I’ve seen in my career.
The two of saves allowed the Gunners to depart Bergamo with a draw from their Europa League match against the champions. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side proved to be a difficult nut for Arsenal to crack, despite squandering a handful of guilt-edge chances during the encounter.
‘It wasn’t the nicest to watch because everyone becomes a man-to-man everywhere.’ Arteta told TNT Sports. ‘We started well and played in the areas we wanted to play, created one or two chances.
+5View gallery
The 29-year-old was swamped by his team-mates immediately after his stunning double save
‘But after that we gave a lot of balls away very simply and we could not get any rhythm or momentum, without conceding anything apart from that penalty.’
Arteta will be hoping that his squad can retain their fantastic defensive record, which they improved to four clean sheets in their opening five games, when they face Manchester City next.
The team travels to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon for what might be a crucial match in the Premier League season.