Mikel Arteta could not hide his pride for his players after they pulled off back-to-back wins against Real Madrid to make the Champions League semi-finals.
Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli got on the scoresheet to see us beat the holders on their own patch, as we made more history by being the first side to ever win our first two games at the Bernabeu in any competition, and stretch our unbeaten run to eight matches in Europe.
New heights keep being hit by this group of players, and Mikel is thrilled that they continue to evolve and develop and take us to new levels, which has now seen us get to the last four of Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since 2009.
On his emotions at reaching the semi-final, he said: “I’m so happy, I think it's the third time in our history, so I have to be very proud to be there again. The team has shown incredible ambition, courage and willingness to compete against any opposition. It's not only the fact that we are there, I think it's the manner in which we've done it, both in London and here in Madrid, so I’m really proud of the players.
“It was my first time as a coach here, and today I realised how everything is possible in this stadium because they generate such chaos, such momentum. The crowd is really pushing them and anything can happen. But I think emotionally, especially after conceding, not scoring the goal with Bukayo, the way we handled that situation. These young players haven't been at this stage before, so it was remarkable.”
There were wild celebrations on the touchline when Martinelli tucked in our winner in the 93rd minute to win not just the tie but the game and follow up our 2006 success, with this group of players writing their own history.
Mikel was adamant that despite our 3-0 lead on aggregate we were not coming to the Spanish capital to protect it, we came for the victory, and was delighted everyone bought into that mindset to see our momentum snowball heading into our semi-final clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
“The only thing that we discussed over the last three days was that we're coming here to win,” he added. “It's not only about going through, it's in the manner that we have to do it in, because we are capable of doing it. Setting those demands and that mindset is very important for the team.
“ I think it shows the capacity of the team, that against any opponent, when we are at our best, we can perform. Especially with adversity and a lot of players that are not even involved here. The way we are doing it, I think it's special.
“Now we have to go to the semi-final against a team that we know very well, that we've already faced before. It's going to be a beautiful one.”
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