Mikel Arteta on Arsenal's champions league exit at PSG

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Mikel Arteta on Arsenal's champions league exit at PSG  07/05/2025  uefa25 champions league

Transcript

00:00Hi everyone, if you have a question raise your hand and we'll come to you.

00:06We'll kick off with Alex from the BBC.

00:09How did you see that game? Was it a case of most of the performance was there

00:16but just the finishing of the chances wasn't?

00:20First of all, congratulate PSG for being in the final.

00:23Talking about merits, I think we deserve much more.

00:27When you analyze both games, who has been their best player, their MVP,

00:32has been the same player, the goalkeeper.

00:35The Champions League is decided in the boxes and he's won the game for them

00:39because obviously today after 20 minutes and what happened in London as well,

00:43the results should have been very different.

00:46I can take a lot of positives and I'm very proud of the team.

00:50You have to arrive in the competition at this stage with your full squad,

00:54full available, in best condition.

00:56We haven't got that.

00:58So, let's put that aside.

00:59Still, the team that I've seen today against probably one of the best,

01:02or not the best team in Europe, it gives me so much pride.

01:06But at the same time, I'm so upset, so annoyed that we didn't manage to do it.

01:11And two things that are on us, probably not together.

01:15Another thing is that obviously the opponent at this level has the quality to deliver,

01:20like Donnarumma is on today again.

01:23Hi, Mikel. We know how much you want this and how much the team want this

01:27to make that next step and to win a major trophy.

01:31Can you explain the level of hurt and emotion there is within the dressing room

01:35and also within yourself?

01:37Probably difficult with words. I mean, all the work that we put, enthusiasm, belief,

01:45and whatever happens, you come here and you do what we've done.

01:49It's the first time for 95% of these guys because they never played a semi-final.

01:55And to do what they've done in Paris today against this team is remarkable.

01:58But the fact is that we are out and if we want to improve and we want to win it,

02:02we can never look back and yet, but if, if, or they did or whatever,

02:07it's just, OK, what is still on us to reach that and unlock that door

02:12to get to a final and then actually win it?

02:15And that's the way, in my opinion, that we have to think.

02:18When you're thinking about unlocking that door and that final step,

02:22is that sort of top end of the pitch, that firepower, that just a bit more,

02:26is that where you need a little something extra?

02:28I'm very proud to coach the players that we have and within that

02:35we create chances and put situations that normally any other day are goals.

02:40But again, sometimes you have to applaud the opposition,

02:43what the keeper has done, not in this time, in both times.

02:46They won the game for them and you need that.

02:50To win a competition, you need that.

02:52In one of the two boxes, somebody has to do something special to win it for you

02:57and make it happen and that was the difference.

03:00Michael, obviously meant so much to the players, you've done so well, you've come so far.

03:07There were tears, it seemed, at the end.

03:10You come into your own in the dressing room, win or lose.

03:13What have you been able to say to the players, to comfort them, to lift them again?

03:18Very similar words to you guys. The way I describe it is the way I spoke to them

03:26because it's the way I feel it.

03:28And yes, I feel proud. Yes, probably nobody expected it.

03:32Yes, probably in the condition that we are, it's very unlikely to happen.

03:36But it was there to happen again and we made it very, very close to happen.

03:40So just finding those reasons why it actually didn't.

03:44Instead of the things that we don't have, with the things that we have,

03:47why we can actually do more to happen.

03:50Okay, Phil, Pierre.

03:52Hi, Mikel. Obviously, Arsenal have come so close to winning the Premier League

03:55for the past two seasons and you could be runners-up again this season.

04:00Falling, you know, the semi-final hurdle in terms of the Champions League.

04:04Are you worried at all that this squad doesn't quite have what it takes to land that first trophy

04:08or are you confident that you will get there?

04:11Well, it depends. This squad or two years ago, nobody believed that we could even

04:15probably qualify for the Champions League.

04:17Not even think that we could finish second or compete the league.

04:21Or have the amount of points that we had that in any other year you are champion.

04:25Or have the run and the results and the performances that we have in the Champions League.

04:30But the reality at the end is you need something to lift that trophy with all the work that we do.

04:36And disappointment is that it's not going to happen.

04:39Okay, we'll do the last couple. James ESPN.

04:42Michael, I think you told TV you said that there hasn't been a better team in the competition than Arsenal this season.

04:48Do you think the best team lost this tie?

04:50I think so, yeah. Especially for 160 minutes.

04:54I'm saying that and they are saying that because they just told me that.

04:58Who did the PSG bench?

05:01Yeah.

05:02Okay, finally we're going to Jordan from the Athletic.

05:04Hi, Michael. As you said, you felt you were the better team.

05:09And you've talked about you've still not got that trophy to hold up yet.

05:12When you're in that dressing room there and you're looking at your players,

05:14is there any fear that when you're trying to re-motivate them again to go again and believe that you can get over the line,

05:19do you get any fear that there will be a struggle this summer?

05:22And then they cannot play football at the highest level.

05:25You have the best example in the other dressing room, Marquinhos.

05:28Eleven times he's right in this club.

05:31He hasn't won it. Eleven times he's the captain.

05:35So that's the twelfth.

05:37And let's see if they win it.

05:38So eleven times you have to go down and up.

05:40So look in the mirror, somebody like this with that trajectory, and learn.

05:44You want to be in the sport and you want to be competing and be very close for the trophies,

05:48you better be able to deal with that.

05:51It hurts, but you have to deal with that.

05:53You see that hunger in their eyes though?

05:55Today I see how much they wanted because they were in tears.

06:00Yeah.

06:01Okay, guys. Thanks very much.

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