After a comeback victory over Girona at the Estadi Montilivi confirmed Arsenal’s automatic progression to the round-of-16 of the UEFA Champions League, Mikel Arteta suggested that he hopes his side believe they can “face anybody and perform.”
The Gunners lost just one of their eight league phases matches in the revamped competition, with that slender defeat coming against Inter Milan back in November.
Reflecting on his side’s form in Europe’s elite club competition, Arteta told reporters in his post-match press conference that “we won the last four games in the Champions League. That’s why you have to win football matches in these competitions. It’s very demanding, we played a group that was very tricky and difficult.”
“But overall, I think […] the team has been very consistent regardless of all the issues that we have to face and hopefully, [there is] more of a belief in that dressing room that we’re a good team and we can face anybody and still perform well in games.”
One of the star performers on Wednesday was Ethan Nwaneri, who netted a stunning goal just before the break to complete Arsenal’s comeback. On his first start in the UEFA Champions League, Arteta praised the 17-year-old for being “willing to take the initiative to make things happen.”
“He’s very aggressive when he’s got the ball and so confident because before that he had another action – a very similar one. He made the right choice, he went for it, and he has the capacity to finish from every angle basically and it was a very important goal,” Arteta explained.
“It’s very natural for him, you can see the way he takes the touches, how he beats people and then the technique he’s got, he’s so precise in his finishing, put him a lot of times in that situation and the outcome will be good.”
With the league phase table now finalised, Arsenal’s potential round-of-16 opponents have been whittled down, and the Gunners know they will face either Feyenoord, Juventus, AC Milan or PSV Eindhoven in the next round of the competition.
“Let’s see,” Arteta commented, adding that “we’re going to have the privilege to be sitting at home, analysing and watching who we can face afterwards.”