I’m starting to reconsider if Martinelli maybe deserves MOTM. He scored the winning goal by sprinting almost the entire length of the pitch in the 95th minute. He also nutmegged Endrick. And, he consistently helped out defensively on the left side, giving guidance to MLS. The left side should have been the shakier side with Kiwior and MLS vs. the right with Saliba and Timber, but it didn’t look weak.
I think he probably would have received the MOTM award if the winning goal had been more meaningful. In the end, because of the result from the first leg, it didn’t change anything. But, still. The winning goal for Arsenal at the Bernabeu, and he did almost all of it himself. Yes, the pass from Merino was good, but he beat the defender and GK on his own.
Any one of the forwards could have won it and deserved it. Rice and MLS also deserve to be in the conversation. But man, the winning goal at the Bernabeu!
The MOTM call for this one was tough IMO. There were several great candidates. For me ultimately it was a toss-up between Rice (who was the inspirational engine of the team) and Saka (who overcame a ton of pressure and bullshit from the opposition, and a mediocre penalty, to score a sublime goal). But Martinelli, Merino, MLS, Kiwior, and a few others all had genuinely strong shouts too, and I wouldn’t have complained at all if any of them had won MOTM in the second leg.
But back to your point… Fast Gabi is playing like a man possessed right now. He has officially rediscovered his form and is absolutely tormenting opposition defenses. And it’s wonderful to see!
I’m really happy about how confident Kiwior and Martinelli look right now. I think they both are the kind of players that needs to be depended on, if you see what I mean. And people were absolutely dogpiling on both of them prior to the Remontada that never was.
If you just go by performance and ignore the circumstances, I think Saka should be rated a bit lower because he missed a penalty.
If you take the circumstances into account, then you should probably give MLS even more credit because he was a player who just turned 18, playing in his first season, and he handled the pressure of the Bernabeu without an issue. Also, Kiwior deserves even more recognition given that he’s filling in for Big Gabi and has only started there what, 3x so far?
I agree that Rice did well, but he didn’t do any actions that directly affected the final score this time around, did he? He was indeed the engine of the team, but It seems a bit unfair to give it to him when Saka and Martinelli both scored and Merino, playing out of position, provided 2 assists. Those are tangible things you can actually see on the scoresheet.
Like you said, almost nobody played badly. Even Saliba, who gave away a goal, did incredibly well other than that. Even Partey, who got himself carded and will miss the next game, was essential in neutralizing their midfield. I love that it’s a team performance and not one superstar dragging us through.
Yeah I was tempted to give MOTM to Arteta even but tbh every single person contributed there. Extremely hard to pick out a single person.
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