David Raya says Arsenal can dream of winning the Champions League after a “statement” win over Real Madrid.
Arsenal beat the holders and 15-time winners at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night to book a spot in the semi-finals for the first time in 16 years.
The Gunners outplayed Real Madrid across the two legs of their quarter-final and deservedly ran out 5-1 winners on aggregate.
Mikel Arteta’s side now face a semi-final showdown with Paris Saint-Germain and Raya has revealed they are dreaming of going all the way.
“It’s a real statement,” said Raya. “It’s great the way we beat Madrid twice and, coming here, the way we played, the way we defended, and pressing high, we were very attacking minded.
“We scored two goals, even though we missed a pen in the first half, but these things happen and then Bukayo [Saka] scores us the first goal and then that gives us the self-confidence to win the game.
“We said: ‘We are here to create our own history’, and that’s what we did tonight, the way we came to the Bernabeu and the way we played, the way we defended, the way we created chances, we kept them quiet and in the second half, they created chances and they took one and we took our chances and we won the game and credit to us.
“It’s been very long [since Arsenal made the semi-finals of the Champions League], but we are here to create our own history and hopefully we can dream.
“And we are going to try everything in our hands to do it, but the main thing is going step by step and staying in the present.”
Arsenal beat PSG 2-0 at Emirates Stadium when the two sides met in the league phase of the Champions League this season.
That will give Arsenal confidence ahead of the first leg of their semi-final, which is at Emirates Stadium on April 29.
But Raya has warned his team-mates that PSG have improved since then and that they will be a tougher opponent this time around.
“We beat them at home but I think PSG now are a different team,” he said. “They look even better now than what they looked back in the group stage that’s credit to them.
“They didn’t get easy games either, but for now let’s look to the present and focus on Ipswich [on Sunday] and see when it comes to it.”
