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Arsenal raised eyebrows across Europe with their 4-0 annihilation of Atlético Madrid at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night. But it was more than just a statement one-off victory for Mikel Arteta’s side against a team famously tough to beat. It also marked an achievement that no side competing in the Champions League has ever before managed to pull off.
Record-breaking Champions League run
For the seventh straight game against Spanish opposition in the Champions League, Arsenal emerged victorious. Such has been Spain’s prowess in Europe’s elite club competition, such a run has never been done before. The Gunners thrashed Atletico off the back of defeating Athletic Club on matchday one last month, and home and away victories over 15-time winners Real Madrid in last season’s quarter-finals. They also beat Girona in last season’s league phase, and Sevilla home and away in the final year of the group stage in 2023-24.
The Gunners last failed to beat a Spanish opponent in the Champions League when Barcelona knocked them out in the last 16 in 2015-16. That being said, a number of seasons in the Europa League prior to their current resurgence, which included defeats to Atletico and Villarreal, has contributed.
Arteta: We stepped up
There’s nothing like performing on the biggest stage when it really matters, and that is what Arteta felt he got from his team.
“It was a tough match. After the [first] aim [Atletico] opened up a bit and it was a bit of simpler for us to seek out the areas,” the supervisor defined on Amazon Prime Video‘s post-game protection. “Very proud of the outcome. At this stage within the Champions League you actually need to step up and we definitely did that in each section of the play. Very joyful.”
Arteta was additionally “delighted” to see scrutinised summer season signing Viktor Gyokeres rating twice after a latest drought: “He totally deserved it. The work fee he brings to the workforce is excellent. We worth a whole lot of issues that he does for the workforce and it was the most important smile on his face at present and take a look at his team-mates. Hopefully that is the beginning of some lovely sequences.”
Gyokeres reacts to overdue targets
Viktor Gyokeres had by no means performed in one among Europe’s prime 5 home leagues earlier than this season, nor had he performed prime flight soccer of any variety previous to becoming a member of Sporting CP in 2023. That led to strategies that Arsenal paying massive cash for a striker already in his peak years with no confirmed report on the stage they anticipate him to carry out at was a major gamble.
However after greater than a month with no aim and two of his three Premier League strikes coming in a 5-0 pummelling of Leeds United, it was essential for Gyokeres and Arsenal that he ended that mini-drought earlier than it began to eat away at his confidence.
“I’m more than happy,” he informed UEFA after the sport. “[Atletico] had some good alternatives however I feel we managed it total. To attain 4 and preserve a clear sheet once more is superb. We all the time preserve going. We do the issues proper once we defend and once we get the probabilities we’re extraordinarily sturdy in taking these.
“Each [my] targets had been nice. I attempt to do my finest on a regular basis and work exhausting, contribute with totally different stuff and the targets would have come ultimately. We wish to do properly, we wish to win soccer matches however there is a lengthy journey to go. We’ll take it game-by-game, even when that sounds boring.”
What comes subsequent for Arsenal?
The Gunners should look ahead to the prospect to make it eight straight Champions League wins in opposition to Spanish groups, not going through one other on this league section after two already. It might come within the knockout rounds, however interspersed with home commitments, Arsenal will navigate remaining European fixtures in opposition to Slavia Prague, Bayern Munich, Membership Brugge, Inter and Kairat Almaty.
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