We recorded our biggest away win in the Champions League since 2003 by thumping Sporting 5-1 in the Portuguese capital, and after the game Mikel Arteta had plenty to be cheerful about.
Having not won in our past five European away games, without scoring in four, we roared back to form with a scintillating display against the side that went into the game second in the expanded group.
After saying in his pre-match press conference yesterday that this game was an opportunity to deliver a statement win, that was exactly what his team delivered.
“Yes, because it is a team that is in top form,” the boss said. “I don’t think they’ve lost a game here in 18 months so that tells you the level and the difficulty of it but I saw the team really convinced with a great energy and a belief that we could do it.
"I was so pleased. Against Inter there were some things that didn’t go our way, but I said to them, we continue to go in that direction, we are going to win some big, big matches in this competition and today we have managed to do that.”
On a night with some terrific individual performances, the manager was full of pride for his whole team.
“Especially the purpose and the way that each player was playing to make something happen, not to wait, not to hope, no. To make it happen and I love that. When you come to this stage it is difficult, the crowd is there, the opposition is top, and they showed today as well in many moments how good they are. That’s what I’m very, very pleased with.”
Arteta also wanted to praise our travelling supporters for their part in the historic night. “Incredible, thank you so much for making the effort to come and support the team in that manner, I think it was 3,000 of our own so thank you so much, it makes such a difference hopefully they can enjoy tonight.”
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.
