Soccer Football - Champions League - Girona v Arsenal - Estadi Montilivi, Girona, Spain - January 29, 2025 Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri celebrates scoring their second goal with Riccardo Calafiori REUTERS/Albert Gea
(Reuters) - Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta heaped praise on midfielder Ethan Nwaneri after the 17-year-old produced another fine performance to help his side secure a spot in the Champions League round of 16 with a victory at Girona.
The Premier League club came from a goal down to beat Girona 2-1 thanks to Nwaneri's 42nd-minute winner at the Estadi Montilivi on Wednesday. It was Nwaneri's first start in the Champions League.
Nwaneri, who joined Arsenal at the age of eight, has continued to impress since a hamstring injury to Bukayo Saka late in December.
"That's what we love about him, he's willing to take the initiative to make things happen," Arteta told reporters.
"He's very aggressive when he's got the ball and so confident, because before that he had another action, a very similar one, he made the right choice, he went for it. He has the capacity to finish from every angle basically and it was a very important goal.
"It's very natural for him, you can see the way he takes the touches, how he beats people and then the technique he's got, he's so precise in his finishing, put him a lot of times in that situation and the outcome will be good."
But Arteta remained tight-lipped about the injury to first-choice goalkeeper David Raya, who did not feature against Girona with Brazilian Neto making his debut for the North London side in the absence of the Spain international.
Arsenal next host fourth-placed Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday. Arteta's side are second in the Premier League, trailing leaders Liverpool by six points having played a game more.
"He (Raya) certainly could not play, he's injured and that's it. Let's see how it goes," Arteta said.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)
