Champions League: Arsenal Will Bounce Back In Second Leg – Arteta
Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta has urged his players to go all out for a win in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final clash in France next week.
The Gunners suffered a 1-0 loss in the first-leg at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
Mikel Merino’s goal was ruled out for offside in the second half while Donnaruma denied the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, and Leandro Trossard as the visitors held on to win.
The second leg of the tie is on May 7 at the Parc des Princes in Paris, France.
Arteta said his players are capable of winning in France to turn the tie around to book their place in the final of the competition.
He said: “We’re at halftime. Halftime and my message will be exactly the same as it was against Real Madrid after we won 3-0 at home.
“We have to go to Paris and win the game. We are more than capable of doing it. I saw two very good teams, but the margins are so small. They had efficiency in front of the goal.
“We will surely make some adjustments, and depending on the context of the game, we will make more adjustments.
“And from there, we will go with a lot of enthusiasm, with a lot of desire and with the feeling that we can do it.
“The keeper as well made a difference to see the result that we’ve seen tonight. You want to be in the Champions League final, you have to do something special, and we’re going to have to do something special in Paris.”
Arteta admitted that he was disappointed with the defeat but he is backing the players to avenge the loss next week.
“We’re disappointed with the result. We put so much into the game.
“The first 10 or 15 minutes, we struggled to get momentum and to get the dominance we wanted because we are very efficient when we regain the ball and where we won it caused us a few issues.
“But other than that, there wasn’t anything apart from the goal. It’s a very individual moment that matters at this level. After that, the team went better and better and it’s disappointing to not get a draw at least.”
Similarly, Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya also followed the path of his coach by insisting that they can turn the tie around in the second half.
He said: “They started quickly with a goal and they dominated the first 15 or 20 minutes but after that we dominated most of the game, creating the chances. Donnarumma made some good saves.
“It’s only halftime, we take positives. They are a top team but credit to the players for the effort. We could have won the game.
“We know they keep possession a lot and are good at that. They had that chance and put it in the net. We had chances to score but we didn’t manage to.”
Arsenal failed to score in a home Champions League game for the first time since a 2-0 defeat to Barcelona in the last 16 in 2016. It was also their first defeat at the Emirates in 18 European matches.
Champions League: Arsenal Will Bounce Back In Second Leg – Arteta is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
