Bukayo Saka believes his return from a hamstring injury has been timed to perfection as he looks to help Arsenal take “the next step” by overcoming Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Saka was sidelined on December 21 after suffering the injury in a 5-1 win over Crystal Palace. Having had surgery, he came off the bench against Fulham last Tuesday and scored in a 2-1 win.
The England forward was again a substitute in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Everton but will likely feature from the start in the first leg against Madrid on Tuesday, with the Champions League Arsenal’s best hope of silverware this season.
Arsenal have never won the Champions League, though they lost the 2006 final to Barcelona. Their progression to the last eight this season marks the first time they have reached back-to-back Champions League quarter-finals since the 2009-10 season.
The Gunners were beaten 3-2 on aggregate by Bayern Munich at this stage last season, but Saka is relishing the challenge of facing the holders as Arsenal aim to end a 16-year wait for a return to the last four.
Saka told a press conference of his injury absence: “I think mentally it was really good for me.
“Obviously it was really tough for me initially to find out the extent of my injury, that I was going to have surgery, it was really tough for me to hear the news at first but once it was done and successful I was just focused on coming back stronger and I had a lot of time.
“The past five years I’ve been playing game after game so it was the first proper break I’ve had. It was really good for me. I got to do a lot of things that I don’t normally do. It’s really nice to be back and I feel fresh mentally.
“It came at a bad moment but I’m just focused now on the positives and I couldn’t ask to come back at a better time of the season than now.”
Madrid have won the Champions League in two of the previous three seasons, taking their record tally of triumphs in the competition to 15.
Fortune has consistently seemed to smile on Los Blancos in this competition, as their controversial penalty shootout win over Atletico Madrid in the last 16 illustrated.
But Saka is not worried about their formidable record of Arsenal’s illustrious opponents.
“It’s Madrid, you have to respect that and accept what they’ve done in the history but tomorrow anything can happen, we can’t focus too much on that,” added Saka.
“It would mean a lot to us [to win]. It’s the first time the club has been in back-to-back Champions League quarter finals for a while now so tomorrow night we want to take the next step and try and get over the line.”
