Arsenal ace Bukayo Saka’s sweet response to David Beckham’s message to England after Switzerland win

Bukayo Saka offered a simple response to David Beckham after the England icon praised Gareth Southgate’s latest saviour following Saturday’s penalty shootout victory over Switzerland to secure a passage to the Euro 2024 semi-finals.

On Twitter after the match, Beckham, who has scored and missed a penalty at major tournaments for his country – as Saka did after his spectacular last-gasp effort at Euro 2020 (played in 2021) was saved against Italy – wrote: “That’s the smile we all needed to see… Courage and happiness @bukayosaka87, well done to the guys @england.”

Saka scored the equaliser against Switzerland in the 90th minute, cancelling out Breel Embolo’s goal and sending England into extra time. The young forward also successfully converted his penalty, exorcising the demons of his missed attempt at Wembley three years ago.

The win comes less than a week after England’s last-16 triumph over Slovakia, where Jude Bellingham’s overhead kick in added time also forced extra time. “I think we’ve shown in two games in a row, we’ve played 120 minutes and we’ve won both of them,” Saka told Lions’ Den. “It shows that we can do whatever it takes to win.

“Whether it’s the 90th minute or the 120th minute, whether it’s a penalty shootout, we can do it either way, which also gives us a lot of confidence.”

Saka received widespread praise for his man-of-the-match performance and nerveless penalty conversion from 12 yards after suffering horrific racist abuse in 2021. However, it was the admiration of former England captain Beckham that he cherished most.

READ MORE: Calafiori and Gyokeres sign – Arsenal’s dream team: 25 players

LEARN MORE: Arsenal’s next transfer agreed after £27m deal

When asked about the post, and after some light teasing from Luke Shaw about his constant chatter about the post, Saka responded, “Listen, the first truth he’s telling today!

“I showed him (Shaw) this yesterday, I was all excited when I saw it because obviously, you know, to have that support from Becks, it’s… (shakes head, raises hand and smiles). Come on, man. Come on, you can forgive me!

Sign up to our Arsenal WhatsApp service and get all the latest news and in-depth stories from football.london’s dedicated Arsenal editors straight to your phone by clicking this link.

“In overtime, I had the feeling there were going to be penalties, so I was ready to fight mentally for the end of the game. I tried to focus more on success than failure. You know, if I think about failure or failure, it makes me depressed, it makes me worried and I get tense.”