Arteta: We have to be in the Champions League

Wednesday night sees us return to the Champions League after six years away, and Mikel Arteta believes it is the stage a club of our stature should be on every season.

We had qualified for the tournament for 19 straight seasons before our recent exile from European football’s biggest club competition, and having brought the big midweek nights back to north London, the boss admits he feels a sense of pride ahead of his managerial debut in the competition.

Now he is urging our players to make the most of the opportunity to shine under the brightest of spotlights, starting with our encounter with PSV Eindhoven.

Divulging his emotions ahead of kick-off, Mikel said: “Proud and excited. It’s been a long time for the club since we have been in the competition and obviously it’s the first time for me as a manager, so I’m really looking forward to it.

“We’ve been chasing it and fighting for it and now we've got it, we have to make the most out of it. It starts at home and I'm sure our supporters are going to be really excited about it and it's about managing that and enjoying the challenge.

“Every time I watched it and we weren’t there, I felt it. I think you put pressure on yourself.  This club has to be in the Champions League. When I have the job that I have, I have the responsibility to try to bring the club to the biggest stages, to the biggest tournament and then be fighting for them. It was a process but now we are here, we have to make the most out of it.”

Having represented the club as a player in the competition, including during some memorable encounters such as our wins at Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in 2013 when he captained the side, Mikel will have craved the return of the biggest games to north London more than most.

But now he is leading his youthful side into our first taste of the tournament since 2016/17, many of whom have yet to experience the competition before. He felt that the gradual progression we have made since his appointment has ultimately been worth it, as he aims to once again make us mainstays of the competition year in, year out.

 

Reflecting on the past few seasons, he added: “I think it’s a learning process. When you're looking to achieve, you have to take some lessons from that. I think we did that and we got better as a team and we did the right things as well to improve the squad. Now we are here and I think we fully deserve to be here. 

 

“Every day you have something to prove. Tomorrow I have to prove that we have prepared in the best possible way and that we are giving the players the best possible chance to play as well as we possibly can to win the game. That's the reality of the sport.

“We have players that have played in it for many years, and some of them have won it. It's just mixing that experience and deciding to make your debut in the right way to perform at the highest level.”