Mikel Arteta on Arsenal's champions league exit at PSG
07/05/2025
uefa25 champions league
07/05/2025
uefa25 champions league
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00:00Hi everyone, if you have a question raise your hand and we'll come to you.
00:06We'll kick off with Alex from the BBC.
00:09How did you see that game? Was it a case of most of the performance was there
00:16but just the finishing of the chances wasn't?
00:20First of all, congratulate PSG for being in the final.
00:23Talking about merits, I think we deserve much more.
00:27When you analyze both games, who has been their best player, their MVP,
00:32has been the same player, the goalkeeper.
00:35The Champions League is decided in the boxes and he's won the game for them
00:39because obviously today after 20 minutes and what happened in London as well,
00:43the results should have been very different.
00:46I can take a lot of positives and I'm very proud of the team.
00:50You have to arrive in the competition at this stage with your full squad,
00:54full available, in best condition.
00:56We haven't got that.
00:58So, let's put that aside.
00:59Still, the team that I've seen today against probably one of the best,
01:02or not the best team in Europe, it gives me so much pride.
01:06But at the same time, I'm so upset, so annoyed that we didn't manage to do it.
01:11And two things that are on us, probably not together.
01:15Another thing is that obviously the opponent at this level has the quality to deliver,
01:20like Donnarumma is on today again.
01:23Hi, Mikel. We know how much you want this and how much the team want this
01:27to make that next step and to win a major trophy.
01:31Can you explain the level of hurt and emotion there is within the dressing room
01:35and also within yourself?
01:37Probably difficult with words. I mean, all the work that we put, enthusiasm, belief,
01:45and whatever happens, you come here and you do what we've done.
01:49It's the first time for 95% of these guys because they never played a semi-final.
01:55And to do what they've done in Paris today against this team is remarkable.
01:58But the fact is that we are out and if we want to improve and we want to win it,
02:02we can never look back and yet, but if, if, or they did or whatever,
02:07it's just, OK, what is still on us to reach that and unlock that door
02:12to get to a final and then actually win it?
02:15And that's the way, in my opinion, that we have to think.
02:18When you're thinking about unlocking that door and that final step,
02:22is that sort of top end of the pitch, that firepower, that just a bit more,
02:26is that where you need a little something extra?
02:28I'm very proud to coach the players that we have and within that
02:35we create chances and put situations that normally any other day are goals.
02:40But again, sometimes you have to applaud the opposition,
02:43what the keeper has done, not in this time, in both times.
02:46They won the game for them and you need that.
02:50To win a competition, you need that.
02:52In one of the two boxes, somebody has to do something special to win it for you
02:57and make it happen and that was the difference.
03:00Michael, obviously meant so much to the players, you've done so well, you've come so far.
03:07There were tears, it seemed, at the end.
03:10You come into your own in the dressing room, win or lose.
03:13What have you been able to say to the players, to comfort them, to lift them again?
03:18Very similar words to you guys. The way I describe it is the way I spoke to them
03:26because it's the way I feel it.
03:28And yes, I feel proud. Yes, probably nobody expected it.
03:32Yes, probably in the condition that we are, it's very unlikely to happen.
03:36But it was there to happen again and we made it very, very close to happen.
03:40So just finding those reasons why it actually didn't.
03:44Instead of the things that we don't have, with the things that we have,
03:47why we can actually do more to happen.
03:50Okay, Phil, Pierre.
03:52Hi, Mikel. Obviously, Arsenal have come so close to winning the Premier League
03:55for the past two seasons and you could be runners-up again this season.
04:00Falling, you know, the semi-final hurdle in terms of the Champions League.
04:04Are you worried at all that this squad doesn't quite have what it takes to land that first trophy
04:08or are you confident that you will get there?
04:11Well, it depends. This squad or two years ago, nobody believed that we could even
04:15probably qualify for the Champions League.
04:17Not even think that we could finish second or compete the league.
04:21Or have the amount of points that we had that in any other year you are champion.
04:25Or have the run and the results and the performances that we have in the Champions League.
04:30But the reality at the end is you need something to lift that trophy with all the work that we do.
04:36And disappointment is that it's not going to happen.
04:39Okay, we'll do the last couple. James ESPN.
04:42Michael, I think you told TV you said that there hasn't been a better team in the competition than Arsenal this season.
04:48Do you think the best team lost this tie?
04:50I think so, yeah. Especially for 160 minutes.
04:54I'm saying that and they are saying that because they just told me that.
04:58Who did the PSG bench?
05:01Yeah.
05:02Okay, finally we're going to Jordan from the Athletic.
05:04Hi, Michael. As you said, you felt you were the better team.
05:09And you've talked about you've still not got that trophy to hold up yet.
05:12When you're in that dressing room there and you're looking at your players,
05:14is there any fear that when you're trying to re-motivate them again to go again and believe that you can get over the line,
05:19do you get any fear that there will be a struggle this summer?
05:22And then they cannot play football at the highest level.
05:25You have the best example in the other dressing room, Marquinhos.
05:28Eleven times he's right in this club.
05:31He hasn't won it. Eleven times he's the captain.
05:35So that's the twelfth.
05:37And let's see if they win it.
05:38So eleven times you have to go down and up.
05:40So look in the mirror, somebody like this with that trajectory, and learn.
05:44You want to be in the sport and you want to be competing and be very close for the trophies,
05:48you better be able to deal with that.
05:51It hurts, but you have to deal with that.
05:53You see that hunger in their eyes though?
05:55Today I see how much they wanted because they were in tears.
06:00Yeah.
06:01Okay, guys. Thanks very much.