David Raya has equalled Edouard Mendy’s record for the most clean sheets kept in a single Champions League campaign for an English side.
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Just 24 hours after officially winning the Premier League Golden Glove (thanks to Gianluigi Donnarumma’s goal conceded against Everton), David Raya was back in action in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Raya had already guaranteed keeping the most clean sheets in the Champions League this season, having racked up eight with no one left in the competition capable of catching him. But his ninth in a 1-0 win on Tuesday night helped Arsenal into the Champions League final.
On top of that, the clean sheet drew Raya level with former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy’s nine clean sheets in the 2020/21 Champions League campaign.
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No goalkeeper has ever kept 10 clean sheets for a Premier League side in a single Champions League campaign, and Raya now has the chance to become the first by denying either Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich in the showpiece final later this month.
Raya hasn’t been far off the top clean-sheet keepers for the last couple of Champions League campaigns, finishing joint-second in 2023/24 and 2024/25, but this is the first time he’s had the most.
Combine that with his third consecutive Golden Glove, and you’re starting to see a good case for the goalkeeper to win some individual awards for this year of football.
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
You’d imagine a Premier League and Champions League title would only help that case, so Raya will want to add a few more clean sheets before the month is out.
Then it’s off to the World Cup, and the chance to compete with Unai Simon and Joan Garcia for starts with Spain.
