Interview

‘We should have got more’

Mikel Arteta was left frustrated after a 1-1 draw with Benfica which promised more.



Despite dominating the first half, we fell behind early in the second half to a penalty.



We struck back just four minutes later, but were unable to claim victory, leaving it all to play for in Athens next week.



Here’s everything the boss said to Arsenal Player post-match: 

on the feeling after the result...

My feeling is that we should have got more from the game from the amount of chances that we created and the dominance that we showed in the game. We should be in a much better position than we are, we haven't been ruthless enough in the opponent's box and then we gave them a goal with the actions leading to the corner and then the handball. Everything is still to play for on Thursday.

on the penalty...

I've seen it. I think it's harsh. He touches the ball maybe on his body before it touches his hand. I'm more upset about what led to the corner in an area we should not be playing than the penalty. To be fair, the reaction from the boys was brave, we continued, we didn't lose the focus, we went for the goal and to win the game. We scored a goal and I think we should have scored two or three more. 

on the perfect reaction after conceding...

Yes, it was. I could see [from] the body language that players believed we should keep doing what we were doing and we scored a really good goal.

on our pace and movement causing problems...

Yes, I think they have a really high line. It's true that we got in the trap a few more times than I would like to but I think we got into some great positions, scored a really good goal and created some big big chances. 

on the second leg...

Yes, I am positive. It's really difficult to see what the 'home' game is going to be like. We're going to be playing in Greece with no crowd and everything will be a bit strange but we're going to go there to win the game.

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