Mikel Arteta was thrilled that his players managed to record a statement win against Paris Saint-Germain, as they went toe-to-toe with one of Europe’s most dominant sides and swept them away with a 2-0 success.
Goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka in the first half were enough to see off the threat of the three-time defending French champions and last season’s Champions League semi-finalists, and record a result that will be noted across the continent.
And with many of our players only just reaching double figures in their Champions League careers, Mikel feels this will be a big confidence boost for when we come up against some of the competition’s big guns again.
Reflecting on what made him happiest on a memorable evening, he said: “We can match them up against a team that raises the level, especially when one of the big teams come here, and still create a performance to beat them and deserve to win, it’s a good sign.
“We played one of the best teams in the world, they are super dominant in the league, they have so much quality, understanding and tactical options, and we dealt with it really well, with a lot of personality.
“We were very determined, we wanted to be owning that pitch, playing the way we wanted to and in the first half, I think we were very impressive with the performance and the two goals that we scored.
“I think they were really looking forward to it. They showed a lot of courage, that’s what I’m demanding, playing with a lot of courage against these teams. When the opponent is coming here, the opponents have to feel that. We are flowing, we want to play forward and we want to generate chances; the crowd was unbelievable again.
“Then obviously this is Europe, they had the ability to make you play deeper, start to play a game that we didn’t really want to play, but when we are forced, we are happy to do. I think overall, considering where we are coming from, the amount of games we are playing, I’m really happy.”
We went into the second 45 two goals ahead, just as we had three days earlier against Leicester City but quickly saw that advantage evaporate. Mikel was pleased that we managed to learn our lessons as we locked down the result despite plenty of Parisian pressure.
A second consecutive clean sheet to kick off the Champions League season was recorded for the first time since 2007, and it was just another highlight for Mikel on a night where everything went right - even if he is still seeking further improvements.
“What happened the other day is a learning process,” he evaluated. “It happened for a reason in the first minute, in the first five minutes we conceded a goal and two yellow cards. The team needs to improve and to improve you need to learn sometimes from things that you don’t like so much and I’m really happy with what we’ve done.
“Both boxes are fundamental for you to earn the right to win games and today we were very efficient even though in the second half, I thought we should have scored another one at least.”
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
