10/04/2025
Arteta: Iām so happy and proud to make Arsenal fans happy
Mikel Arteta spoke to the media after tonightās incredible 3-0 win over Real Madrid at the Emirates.
Hereās what he had to say to the TV dude.
What a night for Arsenal ā¦
Beautiful. Iām so happy, so proud of the team and we have the opportunity to make a lot of people happy and proud, and we certainly have done that.
How much did tonightās atmosphere play into what happened?
Incredible. Iāve never seen a stadium like this. We talked before that for big European nights you need big stadiums that can create atmosphere, and you need individual magic moments ⦠and there we go.
This is one of those nights isnāt it where people will say in 20 years I was there the night that Declan Rice scored his first two ever direct free kicks.
Thatās the beauty of who invented this sport. Thatās against any stat because he never scored a free kick. We havenāt scored a free kick since September 2021. And tonight against Real Madrid at home in the Champions League we scored two in 12 minutes.
Will the set-piece coach claim the goals?!
He can if he wants, it doesnāt matter. Itās about practising, itās about keep trying and then delivering on what heās done is incredible.
Did you see those free kicks coming?
If there is a player who can do it and how he strikes the ball, how clean he is, itās Dec. But then you have to execute it at the highest level against probably one of the best keepers in the world as well. So, amazing.
What was his half-time message?
Basically to simplify the game. We were doing things very well but at the end we were lacking that final connection, that simplicity to find the next pass. And especially to help them a bit more than weāve done in the wide areas. But we managed to do that in the second half much better.
Was Saka key?
Yes, he was. I mean he elevated the level of the team. Itās a fear factor every time heās on the ball that they have to back off because heās incredible. Heās a real th