Bukayo Saka said he would be “delighted” to have the chance to take a penalty despite his penalty error doomed England to lose the Euro 2020 final to Italy at Wembley. The “professionals” will face France in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar on Saturday.
read also
Saka was showered with racial slurs after that match for his crucial blunder, but the Arsenal man looks ready to try again.
“I’ve matured and progressed a lot, as a person and as a player, since then. I wouldn’t have decided to take penalties at Arsenal so many times if I didn’t have confidence. If the time comes and they ask me, I’ll take one, I’ll be more than happy,” he said at a press conference today. Saka scored once in Sunday’s 3-0 win against Senegal in the round of 16 and has scored three so far at the World Cup in Qatar.
“Now in the team there is a lot of experience in big tournaments. If you look at the results of the last tournaments we have participated in, we have reached the semi-finals, a final, now the quarter-finals… When the big matches come, we have many players who know what to do,” Saka recalled.
“There is only one Kylian Mbappé, but at the same time only one me”
Asked if this tournament could act as a catapult for him, as Kylian Mbappé did in France’s 2018 World Cup win, the 21-year-old England forward smiled: “Thanks for the compliment, but no. There is only one Kylian Mbappé, but at the same time same time just me. I want to be myself and help my team as much as possible.”
“There are many great youngsters in this tournament and I can name several, including in my team where Jude Bellingham is doing incredibly well. I’m happy we are here and doing well, our priority is to win the tournament, not win the prize for the best young player or best player,” concluded Saka.
