After the day of Liverpool at Sun and Manchester City to reserve their annual place in the FA Cup final, he now looks like Arsenal. At one point, Mikel Arteta and his team will have to win something.
The Emirates looked like a spring of spring while Paris Saint-Germain arrived to train. The French capital will not look for more end this week. Arsenal’s immediate task is to make sure that everything feels a little different when the first step in this semi-final begins tonight.
Everything turned out to be too much for Real Madrid in the last eight here earlier this month. A sibling atmosphere, the right foot of Declan Rice and the fragiles of Real combined to give the Gunners an advantage of 3-0 to which they never looked to abandon. Now they have to find a way to start again.
They have it, for sure, and Arteta struck the good tone. It was optimism and belief and, especially everyone, pleasure.
“Bring your boots,” said the director of Arsenal when he implored maximum involvement of the Emirates crowd. If its side succeeds, it can prove to be one of the most memorable quotes of the season.
As he had done before the link with Real, Arteta spoke here of making history. His winger, the talented Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli, described him as the greatest night of his career. Some may say that everything is a little dizzy. This is a semi-final, after all. It is not even the last obstacle between a modest season which becomes unforgettable.
Mikel Arteta struck the drum before the Arsenal semi-finals against PSG
Everything turned out to be too much for Real Madrid in the last eight and Arsenal needs a rehearsal of this night
An optimistic arteta implored maximum involvement of the Emirates crowd
However, this worked for Arteta against the Spanish champions. He was held in the technical zone that evening and watched the European champions withered in the face of the pressure applied by his team. It is therefore perfectly logical to return to themes that have already worked once.
“It’s the biggest game that the Emirates have seen since we built it,” said Arteta. “We make a great story but we want much more.
“We have seen the way we approached the Real Madrid game. We will not change who we are. We have to go to the convinced field that we will beat them.
PSG of Luis Enrique is a very good side, especially on their own land. They are an appropriate team now, rather than the collection of individuals who have found various ways of not winning the Champions League in the last decade.
The spirit of the collective and the cohesion that brought it made it a much more formidable opponent than days of yesteryear.
However, they are not invincible. They are not unbeatable. Enrique, meanwhile, wore an entire bag of chips on his shoulders when he was seated and heeped in front of the itinerant French media here.
Years at the top of the game as a player for Real and Barcelona, then as a coach of Barça and Spain should have really made the manager of 54 years away from the type of analysis and examination that follows great personalities. Apparently not.
“Everything I say, you will criticize me,” said Enrique. The PSG manager – who he is – will always carry the burden on the expectations of the Champions League. The French champions have never won the club’s largest European football prize and this feeling of inferiority follows them everywhere as a cheap fragrance.
As he had done before the link with Real, Arteta spoke here to make the history of the club
PSG of Luis Enrique is a very good side but they are not invincible or unbeatable
Desire Doue was magnificent in the quarter -final victory in the first stage against Aston Villa
Enrique refused to concede here that the English Premier League is the best in Europe, but at the same time tried to do a large part of the fact that his team has already eliminated its new Liverpool champions.
What he has not discussed in detail is the fact that Aston Villa – seventh in the Premier League – gave them a hell of a fear in Birmingham while his team pressed through 5-4 on Aggigate.
Perhaps this equality in the quarterfinals showed us the best and the worst of the Enrique team. Brilliant at moments in Paris, where the players with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Dé Desire Doue were magnificent, they were vulnerable a week later to spit a 2-0 lead at Villa Park to lose 3-2.
This tends to be a dangerous combination in Europe and Arsenal should be encouraged. The way in which the Arteta team – 2-0 winners on PSG in London, in the phases of groups, fell from the rhythm in the Premier League will concern the manager of the Gunners.
Those who suggest that it was simply a by-product too much about this competition is bad. The discomfort started in February.
Nevertheless, Arsenal will have taken so much what they have done to a real one and there should be no sense of hesitation now.
Given the domination of PSG, PSG appreciated at the house at Villa and indeed in Liverpool – with whom they managed to lose after having taken advantage of any possession and chances in Paris – Arsenal will perhaps feel that they must win and that should do much for the show.
“It’s a moment to say:” It is who we are, “added Arteta, not only producing a real drum.” We want to play with this state of mind. Players know everything. Now, where are their limits? How far can they go?
Arsenal may feel that they have to win and it should do a lot for the show
But the Arteta team is without trophy in five years. The clock turns on this
Having won their own national league even earlier than Liverpool won theirs – they are 20 points from second place Marseille with three games to do – the shape of the PSG has dropped a little. They won only one of their last four games and lost 3-1 at home against Nice on Friday.
Perhaps it contributed a little to the irascible mood of Enrique. Anyway, the contrast between the two managers was austere. However, there is another difference between the two men. Enrique has the French title while Arta seems to be about to collect a third second place in the first successive League.
The potential continues to infiltrate from the pores of the arsenal, but at some point, it must be achieved. The Arteta team is without trophy in five years. The clock turns on this. It can still be a special evening in the history of Arsenal – but only if they win.
