Mikel Arteta has stressed the importance of showing “support and love” to his Arsenal team following their elimination from the Champions League by Bayern Munich.
Bayern secured a 1-0 victory in the second leg, with Joshua Kimmich’s header sealing a 3-2 aggregate win in the quarter-final.
This defeat came after Arsenal’s loss to Aston Villa, which saw them drop out of contention for the Premier League title.
“I wish I had the right words to say to the players to make them feel better. What I am going to do – and all the coaching staff too – is to be close to the players.” Arteta said.
“I feel so grateful to be the coach and to work with them every single day.”
Arsenal were aiming for their first Champions League semi-final spot since 2009, and Mikel Arteta acknowledged their lack of experience at this stage of the competition. This quarter-final was their first appearance at this stage since 2010.
💬 “We had a lot of hope and invested a lot to go through, but the margins in this competition are super small.”
The boss wants our players to learn from tonight’s experience and spur them on for the rest of the season 👇
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 17, 2024
“We haven’t played this competition for seven years and we haven’t been in this stage for 14 years,” he said. “There’s a reason for it.
“We want to do everything fast-forward, super-quick, in one season. I think we have the capacity and the quality to be in the semi-final because the margins are very small.
“Those margins are coming from something else that maybe we don’t have yet. We have to learn it.
“When you look historically, it took other clubs seven, eight or 10 years to do it. Today, that’s not going to make us feel better that’s for sure.”
Not the result we wanted. Not the result your support deserved.
Thank you for joining the journey, Gooners. See you on Saturday at Wolves ❤️ pic.twitter.com/rVwPhtFpWZ
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 17, 2024
The Gunners, who need City to drop points if they are to win the league for the first time since 2003-04, return to Premier League action at Wolves on Saturday.
“What I need to do is stand right next to them and give them support and our love and we have to pick it up because on Saturday we have a big, big game,” said Arteta.
“We are still playing for the Premier League. The Premier League is there and we really want it. We have to show now that we are capable of turning this around.”
Sights set on bouncing back this weekend 👊 pic.twitter.com/KZfi8ixozx
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 18, 2024