Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta revealed that he had a chat with former mentor and current Premier league rival Pep Guardiola before the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal’s second leg against Real Madrid. For the uninitiated, Arsenal shocked the world for the second time in two weeks, defeating Real 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night and 5-1 in aggregate after last week’s 3-0 drubbing at the Emirates Stadium, thus securing their place in the last 4 of this year’s edition alongside Paris Saint Germain, Inter Milan and Barcelona.
“I called him because if I am here, it is thanks to him to a great extent. He has been a big inspiration to me. I lived four amazing years with him and I will always be grateful to him. Without him, I wouldn’t be here,” Arteta, who worked as an assistant to Guardiola at Manchester City in 2016-19, told reporters after Wednesday’s game.
“Our team is very hungry and we want to keep on doing great things … we want to keep playing at semi-finals. We will have to go through tough times if we want to continue playing at this stage but we also have to enjoy it.The first thing I thought when the game finished was of my wife and my children because they’ve heard all week about what can happen in this stadium. They were here with me and they were proud,” he added.
With a commanding 3-0 lead from the first leg at the Emirates, Arsenal exuded a confidence unmatched by the hosts. Bukayo Saka’s second-half strike was cancelled out by Vinicius Junior in the 67th minute before Gabriel Martinelli sealed the win with a stoppage-time goal. Arsenal are in the Champions League semi-finals for the third time.
Arsenal host Paris St Germain on April 29 in the first leg, aiming for a spot in the final in Munich, having defeated PSG 2-0 at home in the group stage in October.
(With agency inputs)
