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Ansah - It’s been a big learning curve

Zac Ansah
Zak Ansah

Zak Ansah believes Arsenal Under-19s’ growing maturity can help them go all the way in the NextGen Series.

The Gunners booked a semi-final spot in the elite European youth competition with a 1-0 victory against CSKA Moscow at Emirates Stadium on Monday night.

Ansah - who came on as a 78th-minute substitute - was delighted with his side’s performance and believes it bodes well ahead of finals weekend in Italy.

"Everyone is buzzing now about facing Chelsea in the semi-final, games don't come much bigger really"

Zak Ansah

“It was a tough game, CSKA are a hard-working side who sat behind the ball so we had to break them down and eventually we did that,” he told Arsenal.com.

“The whole tournament has been a great learning curve for us. Against Athletic Bilbao and Inter Milan we had to show patience to break them down, and that helped us here - especially on a big pitch.

“We got the ball down and played, and passed around their team even though they had set their stall up to defend. We finally broke them down and got the goal we needed to go through.

“Everyone is buzzing now about facing Chelsea in the semi-final, games don't come much bigger really. We definitely believe we can win NextGen - Arsenal Football Club is about winning so we want to go on and do that in this tournament.”