Tottenham hero Rafael Van Der Vaart has blasted David Raya’s performance in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Arsenal and Bayern played out a thrilling draw at the Emirates on Tuesday night, with the quarter-final tie delicately poised ahead of next week’s second-leg at the Allianz Arena.
The Gunners were arguably the better side but the German giants made the most of their chances, scoring twice from just two shots on target.
Both of their goals can be blamed somewhat on goalkeeper Raya who was way off his line in the build-up to Serge Gnabry’s equaliser in the 18th minute before Harry Kane sent him the wrong way from the penalty spot in the 32nd.
The spot-kick was particularly egregious, with the Spaniard diving very early to his right, allowing the England captain to calmly and gently roll the ball into the opposite bottom corner.
It was the former Tottenham star’s 15th goal against Arsenal, and another ex-Spurs striker couldn’t believe what he was watching.
Speaking on Dutch TV, Van Der Vaart said: ‘Take a look at Raya. Is this guy even a goalkeeper?
‘Kane doesn’t even make a movement but Raya just falls to the ground already.’
Just a month ago, Raya was widely praised for his penalty saving heroics in the last-16 shootout victory over Porto, and the 28-year-old has been in brilliant form of late, conceding just four goals in 12 games since the turn of the year prior to the Bayern clash.
But Kane later revealed that he used the shootout against Porto to his advantage, which allowed him to anticipate what Raya would do.
‘It was one of them when I have done a bit of research of his games against Porto,’ the 30-year-old told TNT Sports.
‘It was nice to see him go early and make it easier for me.’
Kane could well have had another chance to score from the spot, but Bayern were controversially denied a penalty in the second-half, leaving players and manager Thomas Tuchel incensed.
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