Mike Arteta on Arsenal cruising into quarter finals after draw sees 9-3 aggregate win over PSG

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Mike Arteta on Arsenal cruising into quarter finals after draw sees 9-3 aggregate win over PSG  12/03/2025  uefa25

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00:00Hi everyone, hope everyone's well. If you're ready, if you have a question, raise your

00:13hand and I'll come to you.

00:15Oh yeah, thanks.

00:17These ones as well?

00:19Yeah, just move them.

00:21Sorry guys.

00:23Was that a surreal atmosphere? Did it feel a bit like a phony war tonight?

00:39Well, it's obvious that with the result that we had from the first leg that it wasn't going

00:46to be full, but we had to continue and do the work in the manner that we wanted to finish

00:51the competition. Unfortunately we haven't managed to win the game, but we decided to

00:58make a lot of rotation as well. You could tell in the second half that we were tired,

01:02we were late to be much more dominant in the opposition half and much more consistent,

01:07especially when we didn't have the ball. But overall, very happy because we are for the

01:11second consecutive season in the Champions League quarter-finals. We're going to travel

01:15to Madrid, but unfortunately we don't know who against yet.

01:20You must have been very pleased with Raheem Sterling's performance for most of the game

01:26until the very end when he got booked.

01:30Yeah, I was and I'm very happy for him and for a lot of individuals as well that they

01:35haven't had a lot of minutes recently. You could tell in the second half that we lacked

01:40that physical capability to make certain efforts and arrive to certain spaces at the right

01:45time. But overall, very happy that they got the minutes and they responded.

01:50With Raheem, did you see his confidence coming back after he was involved in the first goal?

01:57Yeah, in the second one and then he does the last final action as well that he can score

02:01the third goal and the keeper makes a save. The way he tracked back as well as to the

02:05corner in the last action when he got booked, that's the kind of play that we want to see.

02:11When you first came back to the club as manager, I think this was one of the aims to get Aston

02:16consistently qualifying for the latter stages. How proud are you that you're managing to

02:21do that now consistently? I think it's the first time in 15 years that you've done it

02:24back to back.

02:25Yeah, well that shows you the difficulty of it. We have to value that and recognise that

02:30it is very difficult to do it. We've done it consistently and now we want to make the

02:35next step, which is going to be really difficult but we are very capable of doing it.

02:40Do you have any preference?

02:42No, because they are so different, both of them, the styles, the managers, the history

02:46of them. We know about the difficulty for sure but I cannot tell you one other than

02:51that.

02:53Zinchenko on the scoresheet tonight, playing in perhaps the most advanced role we might

02:57have seen him in, in that attacking midfield position. Striking from outside the box,

03:02Martin Oligar has been a lot of focus around his ball striking this season as well. Is

03:06that the type of scenario that you'd like Martin to get into what Zinni did today and

03:09score that type of goal?

03:11Yeah, and he's done it, Martin as well. I think Alex's finish was great. He's got this

03:17ability to do that, to carry the ball and those spaces to put the ball in the back of

03:21the net. Really happy because we find another solution as well to fit his qualities and

03:26what the team is demanding at the moment. So really good to have him in that condition.

03:31What do you feel you've learned from your experiences from last season's knockout stages

03:38of the Champions League that you could take into such an experienced side in either Real

03:42or Atletico Madrid?

03:45Well, the first thing that you have to be at your best when it comes to that. For the

03:50two games, for every minute, don't give anything away because they're going to take it. And

03:55today we've seen with the two goals that we conceded as well. So that's a big learning.

04:00At the end of the game, it's going to be decided in the boxes. Individual talent, individual

04:04performance is crucial. And then creating an unbelievable atmosphere when we have the

04:10opportunity to play at home. That is crucial.

04:14Can you tell us why it is important for you to be in the last eight again?

04:24Why it's important? Because we want to win. And to win you're going to have to go through

04:30the stages because the club needs it. We are a club, a team that wants to be the best and

04:39wants to be competing with the best clubs in the world. In order to do that you have

04:43to constantly be there. And it's very difficult but we've done it for two years in a row and

04:48we have the capacity and the ability to do it even better.

04:55I just wanted to know if you see him in the long term in midfield or at left back?

05:03Both. He can play in both positions. And in relation to the player he plays as a full

05:08back as well, they can interact and change positions. He played as a six. He was developing

05:13the academy as a six as well. While he's doing this season, it's something new for him. So

05:18I think there's much more to it to play in midfield. He's done really well tonight as

05:22well. I think he was very consistent in his actions and I'm really happy with what he's

05:27doing.

05:32You said you want to get even better than the quarter-finals. How can you do that?

05:36Independently from which Madrid side are you going to play?

05:40Last year we played Bayern and with the history of those clubs and how consistent they've

05:44been in the last 20-25 years being there. And we were right in there in the home game.

05:49We had them under the ropes, they escaped and when we were there we were a bit short

05:54to get to that final stage. Hopefully we'll learn. We are better than them and we can

05:58make it happen.

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