Arsenal pulled off a stunning 7-1 victory over PSV at the Philips Stadion, securing the largest knockout away win in Champions League history. The Gunners showcased their attacking depth with six different goalscorers contributing to the dominant performance, marking a memorable night for Mikel Arteta and his squad.
Heading into the match, much of the attention was on Arsenal’s striker situation and whether they could rise to the occasion on a tough Tuesday night away from home. Arteta’s belief in his team’s ability proved well-founded, as he expressed pride in their performance after the game.
“I knew it was coming,” the Arsenal manager said. “That’s the beauty of it. Nobody in this room, if I give you an envelope and say, can you predict what’s going to happen tomorrow and who is going to score, that’s the beauty of football,” he added.
“In football, and you do very well today, put your head down, be humble, and analyse how you can improve. Because the next game is going to be completely different to this one, and nobody can write the script, unfortunately, even if we would like to.”
Embed from Getty ImagesWinning tonight meant that Arsenal made history again by scoring the most goals in a knockout stage, and the Arsenal manager was proud of the achievement, but said he still wants more.
“For sure, it’s something that hasn’t been done, so great to be part of that. But as a team, we want to achieve many other things that are far more important than that,” he said.
“The happiest thing that I am is because we are in a very strong position to go to the next round, which is where we want to be. But there’s still a job to do in London for sure in a week.”
Riccardo Calafiori got his name on the scoresheet tonight, and his goal had poacher-like instincts to it. Arteta was happy with his defender’s performance.
“Well, there were a few players today. We had them ready to take the initiative. When you come to this stage, you have to play and love the game take the initiative and go for it. And today, we have a full-back on Myles that puts a cross in for the opposite winger,” he said.
“You have Jurriën [Timber] scoring as a header, as a full-back. And they have Ricci [Calafiori] moving to a nine and scoring with the right foot. That’s what I’m talking about, flow, courage and about playing the way we want to play.”