{"id":1361,"date":"2026-05-07T16:26:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/razak.com.ng\/?p=1361"},"modified":"2026-05-07T16:26:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:26:35","slug":"our-only-goal-is-to-make-each-other-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/?p=1361","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Our only goal is to make each other better&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph xai-icon-container ue-c-article--first-letter-highlighted\">On Monday night, after the tie between <strong>Everton y Manchester City<\/strong> that depends again on <strong>Arsenal <\/strong>depend on yourself, <strong>David Raya<\/strong> tied his third <strong>Golden Glove<\/strong> of the <strong>Premier <\/strong>consecutive. Only 24 hours later, before the <strong>Atl\u00e9tico de Madrid<\/strong>sealed his ninth clean sheet in this edition of the <strong>Champions<\/strong>.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph xai-icon-container\">To date, only <strong>Edouard Mendy <\/strong>could boast of having such a record in <strong>Champions League<\/strong>. It happened in the 20-21 edition, where <strong>Thomas Tuchel<\/strong> -arrived mid-season replacing <strong>Frank Lampard<\/strong>&#8211; made that one <strong>Chelsea <\/strong>a &#8216;rock&#8217; that imposed itself on <strong>Manchester City<\/strong> in the final of <strong>Port <\/strong>to raise his second <strong>&#8216;Orejona&#8217;&#8230;<\/strong> con <strong>Kepa Arrizabalaga<\/strong> acting as substitute goalkeeper.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph xai-icon-container\">Such was the level of <strong>Edouard Mendy<\/strong> in that <strong>Champions <\/strong>that, beyond those nine clean sheets that he managed to keep, he barely conceded two goals throughout the 12 games he played in that edition. One in the group stage against <strong>Rennes<\/strong>his former team, and another in the first leg of the semifinals against <strong>Real Madrid<\/strong> in <strong>Valdebebas <\/strong>in charge of <strong>Karim Benzema<\/strong>. <strong>Kepa<\/strong>for its part, played the last group stage match against the <strong>Krasnodar <\/strong>and the &#8216;blue&#8217; team ended up drawing 1-1.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph xai-icon-container\">Five years later, the former <strong>Athletic <\/strong>He is also acting as a second sword under the sticks of a <strong>Arsenal <\/strong>who has reached the final 20 years later. Coincidences of fate, the last time the Gunners reached the final of the <strong>Champions <\/strong>(2006 vs. <strong>Barcelona<\/strong>) also had a substitute Spanish goalkeeper as <strong>Manuel Almunia.<\/strong><span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"ue-c-article__blockquote\">\n<p>If we had not put the team ahead, it would have been impossible for us to win that final against Manchester City<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ue-c-article__blockquote-author\">Kepa Arrizabalaga, Arsenal player<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph xai-icon-container\">&#8220;If we had not put the team ahead, it would have been impossible for us to win that final against the <strong>Manchester City<\/strong>&#8220;, confessed some time later <strong>Kepa Arrizabalag<\/strong>because he knew how to understand his role&#8230; despite being the most expensive goalkeeper in history. Just as it happened in 2024 when it reached <strong>Real Madrid<\/strong> before the injury of <strong>Thibaut Courtois<\/strong> or, now, of <strong>David Raya<\/strong> in it <strong>Arsenal.<\/strong><span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">After reconnecting with himself in <strong>Bournemouth <\/strong>last year, he was fully aware of what his role was going to be in his arrival at the <strong>Emirates<\/strong>. &#8220;He is a great goalkeeper and we have a very good relationship. We are going to compete, we are going to train together and we are going to share a lot of time with each other. We will compete, as happens in the rest of the team&#8217;s positions. Our only objective is to win and make each other better,&#8221; he confessed in <strong>Kepa <\/strong>in his presentation.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ue-c-article__media ue-c-article__media--video  video-player\"><figcaption class=\"ue-c-article__media-caption\" itemprop=\"description\">\n<p><span class=\"ue-c-article__media-description\">Kepa&#8217;s dream debut: hat trick of saved penalties<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\"><strong>Raya <\/strong>He is fully accustomed to this internal competition. It happened with <strong>Ramsdale <\/strong>in its first season and with <strong>Neto<\/strong> last year. With <strong>Kepa<\/strong>it has been even more natural if possible. They had already shared a dressing room in the <strong>Selection<\/strong>where they won the <strong>Nations League<\/strong> in 2023. &#8220;We are good friends and we have a healthy relationship. We both know how hard it is to be a goalkeeper because only one plays. Having competition in each position forces you to improve your level.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">Undisputed holder in <strong>Premier y Champions<\/strong>, <strong>Raya <\/strong>He was also extremely sympathetic to what happened to <strong>Kepa <\/strong>in the final of the <strong>Carabao <\/strong>before him <strong>Manchester City.<\/strong> &#8220;This is part of football. You have to be there to support your teammates,&#8221; he said. &#8220;After the game, we went to the international break and he stayed here. Then, what happened against Southampton happened. Conversations are unnecessary. You just have to try to be a good teammate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"ue-c-article__blockquote\">\n<p>This is part of football. You have to be there to support your teammates.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ue-c-article__blockquote-author\">David Raya, Arsenal player<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">What is clear is that both, in addition to respecting each other professionally, also have a good relationship beyond the field of play. They make each other better and, after &#8216;tightening the screws&#8217; to <strong>Edouard Mendy<\/strong> at the time, now <strong>Kepa <\/strong>It is also partly to blame for the legendary <strong>Champions <\/strong>who is signing <strong>David Raya.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday night, after the tie between Everton y Manchester City that depends again on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/razak.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}