‘Brilliant’ – Sky pundit singles out Arsenal player who made Man Utd loanee Malacia’s life hell v PSV | OneFootball

Raheem Sterling showcased his class in the Champions League round of 16 as assisted both of Arsenal’s opening goals against PSV.

The Chelsea loanee played a prominent role in the first half of action at the Emirates Stadium, supplying Declan Rice and Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Mikel Arteta’s side are currently set to secure passage to the quarter-finals and a potential meeting with one of Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid.

Of course, that should hardly come as a great surprise considering the fact the Gunners entered the tie with a 7-0 lead on aggregate.

A game being played for pride, with the greatest of respect to Peter Bosz’s men.

Raheem Sterling was the man of the first half

(Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

It was a first 45 better forgotten for Manchester United loanee Tyrell Malacia.

The 25-year-old defender, it should be noted, is coming back from a relatively serious knee injury. However, the incumbent Eredivisie holders would perhaps be best advised switching things up at the back to protect their man from a rampant Sterling.

Eindhovens Dagblad reporter Rik Elfrink was left particularly impressed with the England international’s showing in the first 45, with the winger making Malacia look invisible.

“And again 2-1. Sterling runs away from Malacia and before that Driouech as if they weren’t there. Rice heads in and puts PSV behind again….” the journalist reported on X (formerly Twitter), as translated by Google Translate.

The 30-year-old wide man picked up a 7.9/10 rating (at the time of writing) from Sofascore for his efforts 61 minutes into the tie.

Deservedly so, given the forward had picked up three key passes and created one big chance against PSV, amongst a host of impressive stats:

→ 1 shot on target

→ 1 shot blocked

→ 1/1 dribbles completed

→ 14/16 passes completed (88%)

→ 5/5 ground duels won

→ Lost possession 7x

→ Fouled 4x

Fair to say the Englishman has most certainly stepped up to the task.

Tim Sherwood left equally impressed

Sky Sports pundit Tim Sherwood was asked for his review of Declan Rice’s lead-restoring goal in the first half of the Champions League encounter taking place in London.

The former Tottenham boss singled out the ‘brilliant’ for his impact on the European clash: “Raheem is getting all the cuddles from his teammates.

“He does brilliant down the right-hand sign, past Malacia who’s on loan from Manchester United.

“Beats him once, beats him twice, delivers a ball into the penalty spot and Declan runs in late and heads it down past Benitez.”