What Rio Ferdinand noticed about Bukayo Saka’s ‘top’ mentality after watching him live for Arsenal v Real Madrid

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When Bukayo Saka botched his penalty in the early stages of Arsenal’s eventual 2-1 victory against Real Madrid, it seemed like Carlo Ancelotti’s side would use his miss as momentum to capitalise at the Santiago Bernabeu.

However, superstars like Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr were kept quiet by Arsenal as Real Madrid huffed and puffed on course to deservedly ending up on the losing side in the Champions League quarter-finals.

As for Bukayo Saka, he bounced back like world-class players tend to by dinking the ball over the onrushing Thibaut Courtois to open the scoring for the Gunners in side.

While Vinicius fired Los Blancos back into the contest, Gabriel Martinelli’s late goal put the hosts to the sword.

Reviewing Arsenal’s win against Real Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final, Rio Ferdinand went on to make an observation about Saka.

Rio Ferdinand hails Bukayo Saka’s “top” mentality after Real Madrid vs Arsenal

Rio Ferdinand, who is a Champions League winner himself lauded Saka for having the ability to bounce back after his missed penalty and score such a crucial goal for Arsenal against Real Madrid live on TNT Sports: “Yeah, that’s character. He knows his worth, he knows his value.”

In the process, Rio Ferdinand also praised Bukayo Saka for the quality of his finish and movement as the Arsenal winger proved his class against Real Madrid, adding: “It’s a wonderful finish by the way, ‘keeper’s coming out, he just dinks him, it’s a great bit of football. It’s again, he just ghosts in there, I mean, defensively, there’s a lot to pick out, they make it so easy.”

“[Antonio] Rudiger trying to step up, the right-back playing him onside, you can’t discredit the finish, it’s a wonderful run, gets in there, how calm he is and again, the key point is, after such a miss with the penalty, the confidence to do this I think tells you and signifies where he is as a player. Top.”.

Mikel Arteta lauded Saka’s mentality against Real Madrid as well as the Englishman demonstrated his mental strength to bounce back after his initial setback and in style.

Vinicius Jr swapped shirts with Saka, which goes to show how the 23-year-old’s status as one of the world’s best forwards has further been elevated after his electric showings across both legs.

What Bukayo Saka said about missing his penalty after Real Madrid vs Arsenal

As excellent a player as Saka is, Rio Ferdinand rightly raved about his elite mindset — a quality that allows him to put on the show he did for Arsenal against Real Madrid.

However, at the time, it was easy to question why the England international decided to try taking as risky a spot-kick as the ‘panenka.’

But as Saka told CBS Sports after the contest, he simply felt like trying his luck.

“I went for something on the penalty, if it goes in, I’m a genius, if it doesn’t, everyone’s angry but it can happen in a game, you can miss a penalty.”

“But I was very confident that I can score tonight, I really believed so I was calm and you can see that in the way I played, happily that I did do it in the second half and the chip worked in the second half instead I guess.”

Saka is a superstar and his confident shone through post-match, as it did in front of a packed Santiago Bernabeu.