Alex Iwobi has spoken to FourFourTwo about starting for Arsenal against Barcelona, admitting that his ‘feelings’ were crazy and that he had to keep it a secret beforehand.
Obviously before giving Iwobi the nod for our Champions League game away to Barcelona, Arsene Wenger would have pulled the then-19-year-old aside to forewarn him. It’s a big deal, playing at the Nou Camp, and the youngster was inexperienced. Still, the boss believed in him and his faith paid off as Iwobi put in a brilliant performance.
“When I found out I was playing against Barcelona I had to keep it secret and I don’t know how I did it – I wanted to tell everyone!” he told FourFourTwo.
“The feelings were crazy. When I’m playing I can’t hear all the noise, but before the game everyone was singing: ‘Messi, Messi’, ‘Neymar, Neymar’. Playing against Dani Alves was a lesson for me: he’s such a great right-back. At the end I tried to rush on and swap shirts but they’d all been grabbed!”
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Iwobi went on to score two Premier League goals following his display against the Catalans and although his intensity on the pitch cooled down somewhat, he was still a huge part of the latter period of the 2015/16 season.
The Nigeria international seems to be part of Wenger’s plans for the senior squad next season and is a huge prospect to keep an eye on.