Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says last season’s painful Champions League semi-final defeat has made his side stronger as they prepare to launch another push for the trophy.
Mikel Arteta and his boys were beaten by eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the last four, ending their hopes of a first European crown. Ahead of Tuesday’s opening group game against Athletic Bilbao, Arteta insisted the experience will serve as motivation.
“You take a lot of learnings from it, it’s painful because it’s about the expectation we created and the conviction that we could go all the way,” Arteta told a press conference at San Mamés on Monday.
“We showed a very high level of consistency and quality throughout the competition and we’ll learn from it and try to be better.”
The Spaniard said Arsenal now understand the fine margins that often separate success from failure in Europe’s elite competition.
“We learned we are good enough, that we can compete against any opposition on the day. But things have to go your way. You need a full squad available at the critical moments, and then the ball has to go in at the right time or the right decision has to be made, because the margins are so small,” he said.
Arsenal have never won the Champions League, reaching the final only once in 2006 when they lost to Barcelona. Their most recent silverware came in 2020 with the FA Cup.
Arteta confirmed the team will be without Gabriel Saliba, Kai Havertz, Martin Ødegaard, Ben White and Bukayo Saka for the trip to Bilbao.
Goalkeeper David Raya, who replaced Aaron Ramsdale as first choice in 2023, will again be central to Arsenal’s challenge. Raya made his 100th appearance for the club last weekend and has kept 42 clean sheets.
“Having Aaron, who’s a hell of a keeper, and out of nowhere it just gets changed, obviously the media is going to be noisy,” Raya said. “I just had to focus on myself and what I can control. Off the pitch, I just try to be deaf, basically.”
The Spaniard added: “We have belief, we want to win, we are Arsenal and we play to win. But it’s a long journey, it’s a long season.”
Note that Athletic Bilbao are returning to the Champions League for the first time in 11 years.
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