Mikel Arteta says he is happy for Dani Ceballos after Arsenal scored a late winner to beat Benfica in the Europa League round of 32 second leg clash.
The Spaniard was culpable for both of Benfica’s goals on Thursday night and Arteta says the uncharacteristic mistakes would have affected the midfielder if the Gunners were knocked out of the tournament.
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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s late winner spared Arsenal’s blushes as they secured their place in the round of 16 with the draw to be made on Friday afternoon.
“I’m especially happy for him because he really loves this game and he does everything in the right way to be as prepared as possible,” said Arteta.
This is football and you can always learn and make up for your errors! Up to the next round! Thank goodness! Let’s go Gunners! Thanks @Aubameyang7 @Arsenal #EuropaLeague #VamosGunners #NextRound #ArsenalVsBenfica pic.twitter.com/VLbg0JCR6x
— Daniel Ceballos (@DaniCeballos46) February 25, 2021
“You can see how he celebrates every single goal. He doesn’t have a ten-year contract at the club, he’s on loan, and still feels and defends this club in the best possible way.
“I think someone like him deserves good things to happen to him in football.”
Ceballos himself responded immediately after the game to apologies and thank his captain for bailing him out.
“When he made that mistake, if that would have cost the team and gone out of the competition that would have been mentally really tough.
“That is when you need the players in the team like the ones we have with Auba, Bukayo [Saka] creating the situations, Kieran scoring the goal to save him and out of a difficult situation we created a really nice moment.”