Arsenal goalkeeper, Bernd Leno says despite his side’s 1-0 loss to Manchester City, the club has closed the gap between themselves.
Raheem Sterling’s first-half strike ultimately proved the difference, but goalkeeper Leno said Mikel Arteta’s side could be proud of their display.
On the result…
I think on one hand we’re disappointed, but on the other, we played a good game, and we competed against City and in the end, you can see that the gap was very small.
On whether the game was a real tactical battle in the opening exchanges…
I think you’re right, it was very tactical with a lot of passes and it was very interesting for people who are interested in tactics. In the end, you could see that everybody wanted to win the game, and then it doesn’t matter how, whether it’s from tactics or set-pieces, and unfortunately, we lost the game.
On whether all our performance was missing is a golden chance…
Yeah, I think we missed a little of the lucky punch. We tried at the end with set-pieces and crosses, but as you said, we couldn’t finish the action. It was our only main problem in the end because I think we were better in the game in the second half, and we controlled the game, but maybe a good chance was missing.
On coming to the Etihad and delivering such a competitive performance…
I think when you compare the first game after the lockdown how we played here and lost 3-0 without any changes and how we played today, there’s a big, big difference. We are on the right way and today we lost this game, but next week we have to win and be confident in our play like this.
The Gunners will return to action on Thursday night when they travel to Austria to take on Rapid Vienna in the Europa League.