Local boy Myles Lewis-Skelly gets Arsenal buzzing on the biggest stage | Ed Aarons
The 18-year-old left-back excelled on his Champions League debut and showed he could be ready for more responsibility
It was the moment Myles Lewis-Skelly must have been dreaming about all of his young life. Making his full Champions League debut at left-back because of a defensive injury crisis, the 18-year-old born in Islington and raised in Arsenal’s Hale End academy for the past decade could easily have panicked when he was confronted by a charging Eliesse Ben Seghir just after the half-hour mark.
What he did next was absolute validation of Mikel Arteta’s decision not to recall 27-year-old Kieran Tierney for a victory that should go a long way to confirming that Arsenal qualify in the top eight of the new Champions League format. Neatly sidestepping the advancing Monaco forward, who at 18 months his senior was the next youngest player on the pitch, Lewis-Skelly penetrated the visitors’ defence with a piercing throughball that allowed Gabriel Jesus time and space to set up Bukayo Saka for the easiest of tap-ins at the back post.
