Mikel Arteta revealed he was inspired by a phone call with Pep Guardiola ahead of Arsenal’s 5-1 Champions League aggregate win over Real Madrid.
The Gunners dumped the holders out of the competition as a stunning 2-1 win at the Bernabeu sealed a famous victory to set up a semi-final tie against Paris Saint-Germain.
Arteta called the victory one of the “best nights of his career” and also revealed he spoke with Guardiola – his former mentor at Manchester City, where he worked as assistant – on the morning of the second leg.
He said: “I called him this morning. Because if I am here, it is thanks to him to a great extent.
“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 buzzword ahead of Wednesday’s second leg was ‘remontada’ – Spanish for comeback – with Jude Bellingham insisting Real Madrid were confident they could overturn Arsenal’s 3-0 lead.
Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka celebrates after scoring the opening
However, it was a comfortable night for Arsenal, who opened the scoring through Bukayo Saka and added a second through Gabriel Martinelli three minutes into stoppage time.
Asked if he had ever felt prouder of his players in his press conference, Arteta said: “Probably not.
“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.
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Dharmesh Sheth is joined by Nick Wright as they dissect Arsenal’s performance after dumping Real Madrid out of the Champions League
“Now, we have to continue to do that because I think we have some momentum.”
Arteta hailed his players’ maturity in handling the hostile atmosphere inside the Bernabeu.
“It’s certainly another massive step,” he said. “Where we finished last year and the way we’ve done it this year against the team with the highest honours in the competition, it’s incredible.
“But I want to be credit to them as well. It was my first time as a coach in that dugout and today I realised after three minutes that in this stadium, anything is possible.
“They are specialists of creating such a chaos, such a belief, and it’s very difficult to understand really what’s going on in the game and have certain certainty about how we control it. But I think the players showed their own maturity.”
Arteta added to TNT Sports: It is just the third time in our history we have got this far so we need to build on that.
“We are hungry. We are a young team that are determined. All these experiences, including for myself, will help us to try and achieve something big.
“We had full belief we could beat this team and dominate them but then you have to do it and the players did it.”
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Jay Bothroyd breaks down Bukayo Saka’s calm finish as he dinks it over Thibaut Courtois to put Arsenal 4-1 ahead on aggregate
Ancelotti: I could be done at Real Madrid tomorrow
Carlo Ancelotti admitted his future at Real Madrid is in doubt, claiming his time could be up at the club as early as “tomorrow”, but insisting he will always be grateful to the club regardless.
Madrid looked a shadow of the team that won the competition in two of the last three seasons as they were outplayed by Arsenal over the two legs.
Ancelotti’s team are also four points behind Barcelona in LaLiga with seven games remaining.
Ancelotti’s contract at the Bernabeu runs until 2026.
When asked about his long-term future as Real Madrid boss, Ancelotti said: “It could be this year, next year when my contract runs out…
“There’s no problem about it. But when I am done here, I will be grateful to this club. It could be tomorrow, in one year, or in 10 years, but I will be grateful to this club. And that’s it. Full stop.”
