England

Kieran Tierney: ‘I was up against Mbappé … it helps you in the long run’

14-Feb-2024 08:00:33 | Guardian

Arsenal’s left-back is loving the food, ‘crazy’ football culture and challenge of the Champions League on loan at Real Sociedad

“See, just me saying this, I can see my mates saying: ‘You’ve changed, man.’” Kieran Tierney starts laughing. He knows but he can’t help it and if they were where he is, they wouldn’t either, he’s sure of that. The defender is talking txuleton, the Basque T‑bone. “I’m not big on taking pictures of food but every time I get one of those, I do: it’s different class. And there’s a dish that’s rice and clams,” he says, which is when he checks himself and cracks up, imagining pals back in Scotland shaking their heads. “Rice with clams?! You never got that growing up. But it tastes unbelievable, man.”

Things are going well in Spain, then? “I love every part of it,” Tierney says. Well, maybe not every part: there have been two hamstring tears, first against Athletic Club in late September then against Celta Vigo at the end of January, the latter forcing him out of Wednesday night’s Champions League trip to play Paris Saint‑Germain. But every other part of the Arsenal full- back’s move to Real Sociedad has been good and, though this hurts, even injury can have positives. That’s how he approached the initial setback, at least: “I used the time to learn the gameplan inside out and learn more of the language,” he says.