Mikel Arteta insists he still hopes to win Arsenal’s first Champions League title after reaching the semi-finals, praising his team highly for their performance against Real Madrid.
Arsenal won both quarter-final matches against Real Madrid, eliminating them with an aggregate score of 5-1 to advance to the semi-finals of the elite competition.
“Obviously, our history in this competition is so short. It’s only the third time in our history that we’ve done what we just did. So, we have to build on this,” Arteta said after the match.
“We’re really hungry, we want more. It’s a very young team that’s very determined, and all this experience – including for me – will help us a lot to achieve something great.”
“It was one of the best nights of my football career, truly special. We played against the team with the biggest history, which has been an inspiration for all of us in this competition. So, to be able to win in this way, we must be really proud of ourselves.”
“I’m truly proud because it’s really difficult. It was my first time on the touchline here, so I had no prior experience.”
“After two or three minutes, you realize that anything can happen in this stadium. You have to be there to understand it, and immediately, if something goes wrong, the game keeps going and anything can happen.”
“Luckily, many things went our way – except for Saka missing the penalty – but overall, we did what we needed to do to win the match.”
Arteta also spoke about the upcoming semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain.
“I watched their match – another crazy game. Anything can happen in this competition. They are an exceptional team. I know their manager very well. Let’s enjoy tonight and then start thinking about that.”
“We have experience, but they’re a different team now. They’re on an incredible run at the moment. But so are we – tonight we showed that we can compete against any team,” the Arsenal manager concluded.
