Mikel Arteta details Pep Guardiola’s role in Arsenal’s victory at Real Madrid

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side dispatched Real Madrid in the Champions League after recording a victory at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night and next face Paris Saint-Germain in the competition

Mikel Arteta revealed he called Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on the morning of Arsenal’s Champions League victory over Real Madrid. The Gunners earned an impressive 2-1 victory over the La Liga giants to set up a semi-final clash against Paris Saint-Germain.

Goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli either side of a strike from Real’s Vinicius Jr, confirmed a 5-1 aggregrate scoreline as the north London side comfortably navigated their way into the final four of Europe’s premier competition. After a disappointing Premier League title race, European success will be firmly on Arsenal’s mind.

It was clear from the outset of Wednesday, that a significant moment was on the horizon for Arteta. The Spaniard was in a reflective mood and pondered on the significance of Guardiola upon his career ahead of contacting a coaching mentor.

Arteta worked under the Catalan’s tutelage for four years at the Etihad Stadium before taking on the top job at Arsenal. Guardiola’s role in Arteta’s career is deemed noteworthy by the 43-year-old.

He said: “I called him this morning. Because if I am here, it is thanks to him to a great extent.

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“He has been a big inspiration to me. I lived four amazing years with him and I will always be grateful to him. Without him, I wouldn’t be here.”

The Bernabeu victory provided a landmark moment of Arteta’s Arsenal career. The former midfielder was asked if he’d ever been prouder of his players.

“Probably not,” he replied. “Not only because we’re in the semi-final for the third time in our history, but also for the manner and the way we did it, with the circumstances, the amount of injuries that we had.

“I think overall, I think it shows the character of this team, of this club, and it’s a night to be very proud of. What this shows is that the feeling that we have is a reality.

“And the feeling that I had before the tie, with what the players were transmitting and how prepared I could feel they were, was that we are ready to compete against anybody. Now, we have to continue to do that because I think we have some momentum.”

Arteta is hopeful this season can see his team go from challengers to winners. “It’s certainly another massive step,” he said.

“Where we finished last year and the way we’re doing it this year, the teams with their eyes on us and the competition, it’s incredible. Big credit to [Madrid}, it was my first time as a coach in that dugout and today I realised after three minutes in this stadium, anything is possible.

“They are specialists of creating such chaos and belief, and it’s very difficult to understand really what’s going on in the game and have certain certainty about how we controlled it. I think they showed a lot of maturity.”

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