Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka insisted his time on the sidelines due to injury would be of benefit to the club in view of their Champions League quarter-final first leg contest against European champions Real Madrid on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old has shown himself as a key player for the Gunners – and while a return from a serious hamstring injury might be late to rescue their Premier League hopes, European triumph could still be possible.
“I think mentally it was really good for me,” said Saka, who missed more than three months after sustaining an injury before Christmas.
“Obviously it was really tough for me initially to find out the extent of my injury, that I was going to have surgery, it was really tough for me to hear the news at first but once it was done and successful I was just focused on coming back stronger and I had a lot of time.”
Saka also missed England’s opening two World Cup qualifiers last month but scored on his return for Arsenal in the Premier League win against Fulham a week ago.
If Arsenal would stand a chance against Real Madrid, they would need Saka to be in his element and he believes his freshness will give him an edge against the Spanish giants.
“The past five years I’ve been playing game after game so it was the first proper break I’ve had,” he said.
“It was really good for me. I got to do a lot of things that I don’t normally do. It’s really nice to be back, and I feel fresh mentally.
“I’m just focused now on the positives, and I couldn’t ask to come back at a better time of the season than now.”
Saka’s importance to Arsenal is seen by his statistics this season – recording 10 goals and 14 assists in 26 matches in all competitions, including four goals in the Champions League.
Arsenal were eliminated by Bayern Munich at the quarter-final stage last year when they were still in a heated battle with Manchester City for the Premier League title.
This time, all hope are in Europe and Saka says Tuesday’s first leg could be one of the best occasions ever witnessed at the Emirates Stadium.
“It’s a very big night and the stakes are high against one of the best teams in the competition,” he continued.
“It’s the first time the club has been in back-to-back Champions League quarter-finals for a while, so tomorrow night we want to take the next step and try and get over the line.”
