Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya has been praised by manager Mikel Arteta and Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini after the Spaniard’s miraculous double save earned his side a 0-0 draw in the Champions League on Thursday.

Had Raya not saved Mateo Retegui’s penalty in the 51st minute and then somehow found the net to save the same player’s header, Arsenal could have started the group stage with an embarrassing Serie A defeat.

“At that moment I saw two of the best saves I’ve ever seen in my career from David,” Arteta said.

“If you can’t win, you have to take the point. We started well, but then we lost control and were very inconsistent. Defensively we didn’t suffer, apart from the penalty.”

Atalanta manager Gasperini was also impressed.

“He’s a cat. The first save is good, but the rebound is incredible. The goalkeeper has been crucial,” said the Italian coach.

Raya was modest about his performance, saying he had been lucky and paying tribute to Arsenal goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana, who he consulted when VAR checked the penalty decision.

“It took a long time to figure out whether it was a penalty, so I decided to go to the sidelines and talk to the goalkeeping coach about where I should and shouldn’t go,” he said.

“He has helped me enormously in all areas, so all credit to him for that.”

Although Arsenal made a solid start, Arteta was less pleased with his team’s performance, which offered little attacking threat against last season’s Europa League winners.

“We had the ball at times, but we never really managed to dominate it or make it dangerous,” he said.

“The first 25 minutes we read their approach very well. After that we lost control of the game.”

Information from Reuters contributed to this report.