10 April 2023 , 20:47
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Sporting CP's players spoke about Aaron Ramsdale's tendency to stray from his goal-line before catching out the Arsenal goalkeeper in the Europa League.
Pedro Goncalves beat the England international from long-range at the Emirates Stadium to secure a 1-1 draw in North London. That scoreline, coupled with a 2-2 draw in Lisbon, took the last-16 tie to a penalty shoot-out which the Portuguese side won.
Sporting are due to face Juventus in the quarter-finals, with a potential meeting with Manchester United awaiting if they can beat the Bianconeri. Ahead of that game, Goncalves has shed light on the conversations which went on behind the scenes.
"In the dressing room, we commented on the fact that right from the start of the game, their goalkeeper would stand way off his line when he got on the ball," Goncalves told UEFA. "I never thought, 'If I have the ball, I'll chip it over him because he's so far off his line.' No, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.
"Marcus [Edwards] was on my left and I saw him giving me an opening, but when I looked up, I saw something yellow, which was the goalkeeper. I saw that he was off his line, and I had a go."
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The 24-year-old also said his "weird" celebration happened because he wasn't sure how to react to scoring such a good goal. "I think it will always be the best goal of my career, considering the moment I scored it, the type of match it was, against that team in that stadium. It will live with me for the rest of my life, and that's it," he said.
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Aaron Ramsdale was beaten from distance against Sporting (Getty Images)Since that European exit, Ramsdale and Arsenal have been in fine form in the league. Their winning run came to an end on Sunday with a draw at Liverpool, but a number of saves from the former Sheffield United keeper helped them avoid defeat.
Gabriel Martinelli's double looked to have put the visitors in control, only for Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino to bring Liverpool level. Salah could even have won it late on, only for Ramsdale to produce a fingertip save to deny the Egyptian.
"Over the next few days it’ll definitely be a very good point," Ramsdale told Sky Sports after the Anfield game. "Maybe [it was points dropped], but I’ve just walked off the pitch and we’ve just been under pressure for 35 minutes, whatever it was, and we’ve managed to get a point away at Anfield.
"They’re a top side, the crowd get right behind them so it might be two points dropped but we could have dropped one more at the same time."