Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton has come up with a new term to describe Arsenal star Bukayo Saka after a controversial incident against Bayern Munich.
Bukayo Saka was at the centre of a contentious incident late on in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.
In the dying seconds at the Emirates Stadium, as Mikel Arteta’s men pushed forwards in search of a winner, Saka latched onto a Thomas Partey through-ball just inside the Bayern Munich penalty area.
The winger knocked the ball around Manuel Neuer, but then collided with the German goalkeeper and went to ground. Referee Glenn Nyberg had a great view of the incident, but as every Arsenal player and the Emirates Stadium crowd went up in appeal, he waved play on.
After the match, Manchester United icon Rio Ferdinand admitted his “disbelief” that Arsenal hadn’t been awarded a penalty.
However, ex-West Ham United forward Paolo Di Canio was far less sympathetic in his view as he branded Saka a “baby,” and accused the 22-year-old of throwing his leg towards Neuer himself in order to force contact.
Chris Sutton takes aim at Bukayo Saka
Chris Sutton has very much sided with the Italian pundit in this debate. Speaking on the Daily Mail’s It’s All Kicking Off podcast, the once-capped former England man coined a new phrase for Saka, labelling him a ‘dropper-downer’.
“A ‘dropper-downer’ is someone who falls over, who throws themselves to the floor,” Sutton said. “A diver, that’s a dropper-downer. A diver!”
Sutton added: “I’m still trying to understand what he was actually thinking. Because, if you actually see the incident, he actually takes a really good touch. Saka manoeuvres the ball and you think that he can just get onto it.
“There was a defender or two back but with his ability, he would have gone around the goalkeeper. But he chose, actually, to try and win a penalty. What was he thinking of? He carried his run on [and] he initiated the contact with Neuer. It was the correct decision.”
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Where Arsenal now stand in Bayern Munich tie
It is hard to say for certain whether or not Saka consciously and purposely sought to make contact with Neuer, or whether his natural momentum prevented him from avoiding the shot-stopper. The Hale End academy graduate was travelling at some pace, and the entire incident was over in the blink of an eye, after all.
One thing that is for certain, though, is that had a spot-kick been awarded and scored, the Gunners would be heading to Munich on April 17th with an aggregate lead to defend.
As it stands, though, with the quarter-final tied at 2-2, Arteta’s side will need to find a way to win at the Allianz Arena in order to progress to the semi-finals of Europe’s elite club competition.
Former Bayern Munich star Owen Hargreaves is convinced that Arsenal can “easily” achieve this feat. However, they will need to be at their best, and must prove that they can play such an occasion without fear, in order to do so.
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