Hector Bellerin came off the bench to help Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest 5-0 in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
It marked the Spaniard’s first appearance for the club since he was sidelined with a knee injury nine months ago.
And the 24-year-old wasted no time in getting into the action as quickly provided an assist to Joe Willock, who scored Arsenal’s third goal of the game.
Arsenal manager Unai Emery revealed Bellerin had wanted to play the full 90 minutes against Forest, but he had decided to give Kieran Tierney his debut instead, as he and the club’s medical team felt the Spanish right-back wasn’t quite ready to play a full game yet.
“We are going to play a lot of matches and tonight was his first 15 minutes (with us), which is really important,” Emery said.
“He wanted to play 90 and yesterday he told me he’s ready and wanted to play, but we decided to give him less minutes than 90.
“He played with the under-23s on Friday and also they are the first matches for him.
“We need to do it progressively and the doctor said to us that we are going to do it like that.”
Emery fielded a lot of young players in their Carabao Cup third-round tie, which came only two days after the Gunners had mounted a late comeback to beat Aston Villa 3-2 in the Premier League.
However, Arsenal do now have a few days to rest players ahead of their match against Manchester United on Monday.
And when Emery was asked about the likelihood of Bellerin playing the entire 90 minutes at Old Trafford next week, the manager admitted it was doubtful.
“I think no,” Emery said.
“Maybe in his mind yes, but we need to listen to the doctor and the doctor wants to do it progressively.
“Really tonight is the first day and the first minutes, and we are going to maybe share some minutes with the under-23s.
“It depends how he’s feeling, but in his mind he’s feeling very well and I think the first minutes tonight were amazing for him.
“We are going to use him with Ainsley [Maitland-Niles] and Calum Chambers to help us in this position.
“The most important things about Hector are his attitude and experience. He’s wishing to help us.”
