Mikel Arteta believes the positive atmosphere generated by our supporters throughout our 3-0 Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid led Declan Rice to end our long wait to score a direct free-kick.
The midfielder cracked in two tremendous dead-ball strikes to put us 2-0 ahead against the reigning European champions, with Mikel Merino adding a third to hand us a healthy advantage ahead of our trip to the 15-time winners next Wednesday.
The boss called for all Gooners inside the stadium to roar our players on from the warm-up onwards, and they duly delivered to create a decibel level worthy of the display on the pitch. Mikel feels that outpouring of belief and desire meant it was no coincidence that we netted our first shot from a free-kick for nearly four-and-a-half years, while Declan scored his first free-kick and brace in 339 career games.
“It’s a beautiful night at the highest stage in the Champions League against the team that has dominated this competition,” he said. “We had an incredible performance in an amazing atmosphere, something I haven't seen before here, and we created a magic night - two magic moments of Declan individually and a magic moment for the team in general to perform the way we’ve done.
“It’s all about belief, you have to be super convinced that actually you're going to do it. It's a way of feeling the game and your actions. You could see the crowd 15-20 minutes before kick-off already singing and bringing that energy, and I'm a big believer in that.
“We haven't scored a direct free kick since September 2021 and Declan has never scored a free-kick in his career and today in 12 minutes we scored two. There is something about the energy, the belief and people striving to achieve the same thing - things happen.
“It just brought the team forward, elevated every individual to a different level and it created a very difficult scenario for the opposition.”
We now head to Spain next week with a huge opportunity to reach our first Champions League semi-final since 2009, and Mikel will be hoping to see a similar type of performance from his players, who outshone their illustrious opponents to maintain our 11-game unbeaten record in this competition since our return last term.
But he is keen to keep a lid on any celebrations within the camp with 90 minutes still to go, and a wounded Real aiming to come back strong as any defending champions would do.
When asked about his team’s display, Mikel added: “They played with a lot of courage and with a lot of personality, dealing with certain difficult moments. In the first half, we lost one or two balls, one after the set-piece, and then you're going to lose it, and we go on the floor, Mbappe is through, but after that, I think we conceded nothing, and we were very dominant.
“It’s just half-time. We have an incredible match to play now at the Bernabeu and we're going to have to, again, increase the level and go there prepared again to win it.”
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