Mikel Arteta has urged Arsenal to shut out expectations of another famous Real Madrid comeback and “talk on the pitch” in Wednesday’s Champions League quarterfinal showdown.
Arsenal travel to the Bernabéu aiming to defend a 3-0 first leg lead and reach their first semifinal in the competition since 2009.
Fifteen-time winners Real Madrid have a storied history littered with instances of recovering seemingly lost causes, but they have only ever come back from a three-goal deficit in a European tie once: in their 1975-76 European Cup campaign against Derby County.
Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham said on Tuesday the situation is “a night made for Real Madrid” and claimed he had heard the word remontada — Spanish for “comeback” — “about a million times since last week” amid talk in the Spanish capital of a possible revival.
Speaking on Tuesday ahead of the game, Arteta said: “We have tried to repeat the opposite message. So in the brains of the players, what they have here in the last 72 hours is something completely different.
“We are very close to them and hopefully that’s more powerful than anything else. But again, you have to be out there, you have to experience it, you have to feel it and you have to go through it. That’s what we have to do tomorrow. I understand that it’s the narrative that is going to give the fuel to them [Madrid].”
Arsenal have not lost a game by a three-goal margin for almost two years and there have only been four times when any team has recovered such a deficit from 47 occasions in Champions League history.
Speaking about Arsenal’s greater resilience, Arteta continued: “We have to prove it now in this context and that’s the beauty of it. That’s the challenge and that’s the great thing about sports.
“That we’ve shown that we are capable of doing it, that has to give us reassurance and confidence that we can do it. And now, let’s talk on the pitch and do it on the pitch. It’s the only thing that matters.
“There are three main aspects in the game. There’s the physical aspect, the technical and tactical aspect and the emotional aspect. That emotional aspect is very significant because I have a lot of reassurance for what the team has done all season, in a positive context and in a very difficult context, which I think is probably the pathway and why those things happen.”
So, [we need] to prepare to a semifinal like this and to be convinced that we can handle any situation and we’re going to enjoy actually playing any kind of game that we have to be thrown tomorrow.”
Goalkeeper David Raya insisted Arsenal should not sit back and defend their advantage despite the hostile environment they are set to face in Spain.
“The intention is to win the game. We know how we played in the first game and we have to do the same. We know we have a lead, but we come here just to win the game.
“We are here just to write our own history. Winning the game and going through to the semifinals is what we want to achieve tomorrow.”
Ben White and Thomas Partey shook off minor issues and are fit for the game after training with the squad earlier on Tuesday but Jorginho misses out.
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