Wayne Rooney warned Arsenal fans ‘you’ve not won it yet’ after the Gunners celebrated reaching the Champions League final wildly. The Gunners, unbeaten in the competition after 14 games, head to Budapest later this month to take on either Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich. It is the first time in 20 years that Arsenal are into the final, after beating Atletico Madrid 1-0 on the night and 2-1 on aggregate.
Bukayo Saka‘s 44th-minute finish from close range was the difference as Arsenal booked their flight to Hungary. The full-time whistle was greeted with raucous celebrations inside the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal’s players and fans celebrated the milestone. But not all those inside the ground agreed with how wild the crowd went. Speaking on Amazon Prime Video Sport, former Arsenal winger Theo Walcott reacted: “Incredible scenes here. I’ve never seen the Emirates like this, the energy. Bukayo Saka, what a man.
“Incredible because some of these people here weren’t even born when they [last] got to the final. It’s one of those now, can they go that one step further? This belief, this group of fans, that can generate that. Maybe they are the team that can do it this year.”
Rooney then chimed in to praise Myles Lewis-Skelly, saying: “I thought he was very good again tonight. I thought Arsenal were very efficient in their performance. They get their goal then defensively I thought they were brilliant, the two centre-backs were excellent all evening.
“How they’ve played all season, in the Premier League and Champions League, they’ve deserved to get in this position.” But the Manchester United icon also warned: They haven’t won it yet so the celebrations are a little bit… [too much]. Celebrate when you win it! But no they deserve it, they were really good today.
“I always think you can celebrate when you win the competition. I always get stick for saying it!”
Yet Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice told Amazon post-match, however: “It’s chaos [in the dressing room]. I don’t think you can underestimate what we’ve done in this competition up to this point. I think we had every right to celebrate that moment.
“It’s such a big moment, a Champions League final, the most prestigious tournament in club football. It’s a proud moment for the boys and the club and we’re trying to soak it all in.”
Goalscorer Saka said: “It is so beautiful. You see what it means to us and what it means to the fans. We’re so happy. This game was a high-pressure game. It means a lot to both sides. We managed to manage it well, and take ourselves to the final. It started before the game when we were arriving on the coach. I have never seen anything like it. It is a beautiful story and I hope it ends well in Budapest.”
Rooney later added: “With Arsenal, what we’re seeing now is a maturity, you can feel it. You see teams coming through the Champions League reaching quarter-finals and semi-finals and now they’ve gone that one step further and that maturity and being together for a few years now has really shown.
“This will give them belief. I think they know. You can see a team who believe in themselves and who know they’re ready to go and win titles. I said a few weeks ago I thought they’d win the Premier League and the Champions League. They’ve put themselves in a hell of a position to go and do that. It’s Arsenal’s year, I think. They’ve shown that all year.”