BILBAO, SPAIN — Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says his team will use the “agony” of last season’s Champions League semi-final defeat to fuel their new campaign.
Speaking ahead of their opening match against Athletic Bilbao, Arteta said the painful experience against eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain had been a crucial learning opportunity for his squad.
“You take a lot of learnings from it—it’s painful because… It’s about the expectation that we created and the real conviction that we had within the club, the team that we could go all the way,” he told a news conference. “We showed a very high level of consistency and quality throughout the competition and [we’ll] learn from it and try to be better.”
Arteta acknowledged that success in the competition requires things to “go your way” and that the margins are incredibly small.
Team News and Goalkeeper’s Confidence
The Arsenal coach confirmed that several key players would be unavailable for the match, including Gabriel Saliba, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard, Ben White, and winger Bukayo Saka.
The game will be a return to Europe’s top club competition for Athletic Bilbao after an 11-year absence.
Goalkeeper David Raya, who recently reached a century of games for the club, also spoke to the media about his confidence. The Spaniard, who replaced Aaron Ramsdale as first-choice keeper, said he had to “be deaf” to the initial criticism and noise surrounding the decision.
“We have belief, we want to win, we are Arsenal and we play to win,” Raya said. “That’s what we want to do and that’s what we play football for, but… It’s a long journey, it’s a long season, in the Champions League and the Premier League.”
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