Arteta Seeks to Reverse Arsenal’s Champions League History
Mikel Arteta, Arsenal’s coach, has expressed his desire to “change the history of our club” in the face of the challenge of conquering the Champions League. He acknowledges that the lack of titles in this competition represents a “pressure” that both he and his players must overcome, starting the 2025-26 season against Athletic Club in Bilbao. Arsenal, with 13 Premier League titles, is considered one of the most important clubs that have yet to win the Champions League. Their best performance was reaching the final in 2006, where they lost to Barcelona. In addition, they have reached the semi-finals on three occasions throughout 23 participations in the competition, since the 1971-72 season. In the previous season, Arteta’s team was defeated by Paris Saint-Germain, who eventually became champions, in the semi-finals. Arteta went on to claim that his team was the best in the tournament. Arteta emphasized in Bilbao that it’s time for Arsenal to put their name on the trophy, especially seeing that other English clubs like Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Manchester City have already achieved success in the competition.The coach also highlighted the difficulty of winning the Champions League, noting that even the big clubs often fail several times before succeeding. “In this competition, you are going to fail much more than you are going to succeed. That is the nature of this. That is the history of our club and that is what we want to change,” Arteta added.“Pressure is the opportunity that drives that energy and that will to be better every day. Every decision must be made with that standard and with those expectations, so we are going to give our best to try to achieve it,” Arteta declared.
Mikel Arteta
The coach also highlighted the importance of having a complete squad and that luck be on the team’s side at key moments. The defeat in the semi-finals against Paris Saint-Germain, by an aggregate score of 3-1, still hurts, but Arteta assures that the team has learned from that experience and is ready to face new challenges. “We felt very unlucky in the semi-final. It gave us the conviction that the team can go all the way. We learn a lot from this. I think the expectation we created and the true conviction we had within the club, the team, that we could go all the way because we showed a very high level of consistency and quality throughout the competition,” concluded the coach.“I’m very excited to start again from scratch in a beautiful place and in a stadium that is going to be something special. We are looking forward to it and I’m very excited to go step by step and start winning. We know it’s going to be a very long journey. The margins in this competition are very small and you have to be at your best if you want to give yourself the best possible chance,” Arteta stated.
Mikel Arteta
