Having masterminded one 2-0 victory at AC Milan 10 years ago, Arsene Wenger repeated the feat on Thursday night.
The Arsenal manager was delighted with the response the team showed after losing their previous four games, and this is what he told the media afterwards:
on whether the win was just what we needed…
Yes, and what we wanted especially. At some stage, you need to respond and respond together with a good performance. That’s what we did tonight.
on what he hopes that result will mean…
We have won again but we have not qualified. The result will lift the belief in the team again. When you lose three games in six days, it’s always very difficult. We want to keep our focus and finish the job next week. That’s what the target is.
on whether he feels the tie is over…
No, not at all. I just said that we won the game, we are not qualified. We understand that and we have to finish the job at home. Overall, nothing is [finished] at the moment.
on why the team performed better than against Brighton…
In England, we have a strange system where we have a League Cup final in the middle of the season. We played a cup final in the middle of the season on the Sunday, and then played against the same opponent on Thursday. It’s like a boxing match where you’re half knocked down and you have to face another opponent before you get up again. It’s difficult to recover from a defeat in a cup final when you put so much effort in. You’re always in danger. That’s what happened to us because we had no time to recover, no breather. We had our backs to the wall tonight and we had to respond. That’s what we have shown. We needed to find the mental resources and not just accept it.
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