Mikel Arteta urged his Arsenal players to “do something special in Paris” after losing the first leg of their Champions League semi-final 1-0 at home. Arsenal were disappointing in defeat, going behind early on and squandering good chances to equalise. But Arteta emphasised the “small margins” that would decide this tie, and urged his side to put in an improved display next Wednesday.
“I don’t know the percentage, but we have a lot of chances to be in that final,” Arteta said. “The time to do it is going to be in Paris. We are at half-time. My message is exactly the same as when we beat Real Madrid at home 3-0. We have to go to Paris and win the game and we are more than capable of doing it. You have two teams where the margins are so small.
“I think we need to be better. We know that there was not that much in it. It could have gone either way and we need to pull things to our side. We needed to be a little bit more accurate, but we have whetted our appetite and we want to go to Paris and do what we need to do. If you want to win the Champions League final, you have to do something special, and now we have to do something special in Paris.”
Arteta revealed he made a tactical tweak after around 20 minutes that redressed the balance of the game after a dominant opening period for Paris Saint-Germain, although he was coy on what it actually was.
“It was an issue with the ball,” he said, “and if you don’t correct that the midfield has to come back. It was something that was very specific and very important, and we corrected it. This is the difference in the Champions League, the margins are so small.”
The PSG manager, Luis Enrique, offered a similar analysis, declaring himself satisfied with the win but promising more hard work and suffering next week. “Mission accomplished this evening, but we could have come out with a draw and it would have been fine as well,” he said.
“With Arsenal we cannot let our guard down. We cannot be complacent. Nothing is in the bag yet, because we are playing against a team that has nothing to lose.”
