Mikel Arteta ‘wanted to slap’ Arsenal star after what he did against Real Madrid

Mikel Arteta says he ‘felt like slapping’ Bukayo Saka after his first-half penalty miss in their Champions League victory over Real Madrid.

After a thrilling 3-0 win in the first leg back in north London, Arsenal had the chance to add to their lead early in the first-half at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night.

Mikel Merino was hauled down by Raul Asencio inside 10 minutes with a penalty awarded. Saka, so regularly flawless from 12 yards out, attempted an audacious Panenka which was clawed away by Thibaut Courtois.

Saka, who was involved in a half-time spat with Dani Carvajal after the miss, made up for that mistake with a goal after 65 minutes to extend the Gunners’ aggregate lead to 4-0.

While Vinicius Jr pulled one back moments later, Arsenal remained in control with Gabriel Martinelli wrapping up a famous win in Spain in added time.

But speaking after the game, Arteta admitted he was ‘worried’ how his star man would react to the setback.

‘I might have felt like slapping him,’ Saka told reporters in Spanish. ‘He made that decision, and that’s it. I was worried about what it could do to him emotionally.’

Arteta added: ‘I can go on and on with individuals and a lot of different cases, I will answer in that same way.

‘With Bukayo, he stepped up, he didn’t score, obviously, that could be a turning point emotionally in the game because it gives him a lot of belief.

‘But then the way he handled the situation, the way he played afterwards, and the personality that he showed at his age. It’s the first time he’s played in this stadium, it’s incredible.’

Arsenal will now take on Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals of the competition after the Ligue 1 champions beat Aston Villa 5-4 on aggregate in their quarter-final tie.

It is just the third time the club have reached the last four of Europe’s premier club competition, eliminated by Manchester United in 2009 and beating Villarreal in 2006 en route to their final defeat to Barcelona.

‘It’s certainly another massive step. Where we finished last year and the way we’re doing it this year, the teams with their eyes on us and the competition, it’s incredible,’ Arteta said.

‘Big credit to [Madrid], it was my first time as a coach in that dugout and today I realised after three minutes  in this stadium, anything is possible.

‘They are specialists of creating such chaos and belief, and it’s very difficult to understand really what’s going on in the game and have certain certainty about how we controlled it.

‘I think they showed a lot of maturity.’