Arteta reacts to Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over Milan in Singapore: ‘Adapted quickly’ | OneFootball

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has given his verdict after his side overcame Serie A outfit Milan by a 1-0 scoreline in a pre-season friendly in Singapore on Wednesday afternoon (evening local time).

A single goal from England international Bukayo Saka gave Arsenal a 1-0 win in regular time against a Milan side that was missing some of its key first-team players in Santiago Gimenez, Luka Modric and Youssouf Fofana.

The Rossoneri, however, did go on to win the ceremonial post-match penalty shootout by 6-5. Arsenal failed to convert four of their penalties, with 20-year-old goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani making saves against Martin Odegaard, Reiss Nelson and Jakub Kiwior.

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – JULY 23: Bukayo Saka of Arsenal leads the team out as captain prior to the Pre-Season Friendly match between Arsenal FC and AC Milan at National Stadium on July 23, 2025 in Singapore. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)

Arsenal 1-0 Milan: Arteta’s post-match reaction

“It’s good, winning and a clean sheet as well, overall a very good performance, a very consistent performance throughout the game,” Arteta said after full-time.

“We had a lot of changes, we’ve seen the players are playing at a very high level.”

The Arsenal coach saw the Milan friendly as an opportunity to test some of his young stars as the game unfolded. The Gunners spent over 25 minutes playing with two 15-year-olds on the pitch in Max Dowman and Marli Salmon.

“A big joy as well to watch so many young kids playing at 15, 16, 17 years old performing at that level, overall, very good,” Arteta added.

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – JULY 23: Rafael Leao of AC Milan is challenged by Ethan Nwaneri of Arsenal during the Pre-Season Friendly match between Arsenal FC and AC Milan at National Stadium on July 23, 2025 in Singapore. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)

“I think they adapted really quickly, really fast. It’s an incredible group of players that we have and they’ve made them feel straightaway very welcome and you can tell, they were very loose, very relaxed, very confident in everything that they did and, again, a very positive performance.

“It was very special, we’ve been here before, we know how special this place is with our club. Just to build that relationship, that connection even stronger and hopefully more crowd time next game.

“I think now we will review the match, review each individual, how is he first of all, physically, because we have put a lot of load and demands in them, and keep evolving the team in the right direction, sustain and keep the very good things that we are doing at the moment, and the tweaks and improvements that can make as well,” Arteta concluded