Mikel Arteta called on Arsenal players to learn from their Champions League semi-final defeat at Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.
Joshua Kimmich’s header saw the Gunnees fall to defeat at the Fussball Arena Munchen and end their hopes of reaching the last four, but Arteta admitted that he’s pushing the youthful squad to the limit in their quest to claim some silverware.
Reflecting on Arsenal’s campaign, Arteta said: “We haven’t been in the Champions League for seven years, we haven’t been in this position for 14 years, but our intention is to fast-forward everything and in our first season, be ready to play in the semi-finals and we were very close.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t managed to do it, so we have to learn from it, me first, and earn the right to be in the same position next season.
“I’m obviously very sad. The dressing room is very disappointed. We had a lot of hope and invested a lot to go through, but the margins in this competition are super small, and we lacked to make the difference in those moments.
“We had our moments again. I think the team played with a lot of personality, but we lacked that magic moment at some stage or to force a mistake, because that happens as well to go through in the tie. We have to congratulate Bayern; they have done it, and they are through.”
After back-to-back defeats to Aston Villa and now Bayern, Arteta urged his players to put that pain behind them with so much still to come this term. Arsenal are still sitting in a great position in the Premier League with six games to go, and Arteta felt that the right support from the coaching staff as well as supporters could make all the difference as they hope to end the campaign with silverware.
“Tonight, probably I cannot find the right words to lead the players because we have to go through that pain and that emotion,” admitted Arteta. “By tomorrow morning, we have to focus fully on Wolves, the task that we have ahead of us is unbelievable, it’s beautiful.
“We’ve worked for that nine, 10 months, so I ask everybody to please be behind our players to support them and to see the good side of it because what they are doing is unbelievable.”