Arsenal's Mohamed Elneny waves to fans after the game (Reuters)
Egypt and Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny has earned lavish praise following his impressive performance against Barcelona on Wednesday night despite seeing his team defeated 3-1 at the Camp Nou.
The 23-year-old scored an unstoppable right-footed curler that nestled into the top corner from the edge of the area, but that was just the icing on the cake after his show of dominance, composure and confidence in Arsenal's midfield.
"Elneny worked tirelessly to help shield the back four against Barca's vaunted attack and made a number of key interceptions, but still had enough energy to push forward in attack," an analysis on ESPN read after the game.
The international midfielder covered the most distance on the pitch, recording 12.85km during the 90 minutes, a whole kilometre more than second-placed Jordi Alba from Barcelona, who made 11.02km and was far ahead of any Arsenal player, with Bellerin coming far behind with 10.86km.
Skysports in its post match analysis also hailed his work rate, saying: "The Egyptian midfielder made his fourth start in 12 days against Barcelona, but he showed no signs of fatigue as he put in another energetic performance at the heart of the Arsenal midfield…[he] broke up play well and showed a good range of passing, holding his own against the trio of Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic."
This performance is not a surprise, as last year while playing at FC Basel, he was the player with the most distance covered at the end of the Champions League round 16 with 97km in eight games, four more than second-placed Nemanja Matic from Chelsea.
"He wasn’t playing and I was thinking, 'what was the point?' I liked Elneny because he was closing down all day," iconic former Arsenal striker Ian Wright told BT sport after the game.
"He played very well, his link-up play was very, very good. When he eventually got the chance, he was very calm and guided it into the top corner."
Now that he has proved his worth in Arsenal's midfield, he will be seeking to cement his place as a regular starter and hopes he could boost the Gunners in their quest for the league title, their last hope for silverware this season.
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