Saka

The weight of an entire nation were on his shoulders. He's 19 and never taken a penalty before. How did this happen?

I can't think of a better way to traumatize a young, rising star than that. Come on. Everyone was watching: The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Anthony Hopkins, Jason Statham, Nobel Prize winner Paul Nurse, Gordon Ramsay, James Corden, Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, Adele, James May, the Queen and the rest of the HRHs, whoever the Prime Minister is, and finally, of course, Arsenal royalty: Tony Adams, Charlie George, Martin Keown, Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn, Steve Bould, Paul Merson, Alan Smith, Michael Thomas, Ian Wright. Count those luminaries among 55 million English to have their hopes crushed in a single kick of the ball.

What a cruel sport. OK. So I sorta believe Saka is forever changed. Will it make him stronger? I hope so. He might go into every big match from now on thinking it'll be cake compared to that.