FOOTBALL – Arsenal are hungry to write history and win their first Champions League final having got a taste for winning following their recent Premier League title, manager Mikel Arteta said yesterday.
Tonight’s clash in Budapest has the newly crowned English champions go up against a swaggering Paris St Germain side that dumped them out of the competition last year in the semi-finals.
Arsenal’s first domestic triumph in 22 years means they are going into tonight’s showpiece with their tails up and looking to confirm their status among Europe’s elite.
They are also boosted by the return of right-sided Dutch full back Jurrien Timber, who has been out injured since March, who if he plays will be up against PSG’s exhilarating Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
“We have the opportunity tomorrow to write a new chapter in the history of the football club,” Arteta told reporters.
“We have to play tomorrow with such a clarity, a lot of courage and desire to win, but we have those three aspects.”
The Spaniard said the Premier League win had not eased the pressure on his side; rather, it had fuelled the players’ fire.
“The ambition is bigger,” Arteta said. “We have won and we want the second one,that is all we have been talking about. That has to be a platform to reach bigger destinations.”
Much has been made of the demands of the Premier League compared to France’s Ligue 1, but Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka said there would be no fatigue given the trophy at stake.
“A game like this is not going to be decided on minutes, it is going to be decided by moments,” Saka said. “It is a massive opportunity to do something special.”
Arteta said he still felt Arsenal had been unlucky to lose to PSG last year and praised their manager Luis Enrique as an “inspiration” and architect of his side’s success.
There was little room for sentiment otherwise though.
“They (PSG) are defending the trophy, they are the champions and we are here to take it away from them,” Arteta said.
PSG’s hunger has not faded after last year’s Champions League triumph, with captain Marquinhos and coach Luis Enrique insisting the club’s historic breakthrough only sharpened their appetite for more silverware.
Marquinhos said the emotional high of their 5-0 victory over Inter Milan in last season’s showpiece match had only fuelled the squad’s determination to experience it again.
“It’s really important to have that motivation,” Marquinhos told a news conference yesterday.
“Last year we said it and we showed it on the pitch. Once you win the Champions League, once you taste that title and those moments, you want to relive them again.”
The Brazilian defender said PSG had learned from last season’s run and were now better equipped to handle the pressure and noise surrounding a Champions League final.
“There are a lot of things around these matches, the expectations, the pressure,” he said.
“The message in the dressing room was to change nothing, to continue working the same way and keep the same hunger we had last year.”
“Even today, I have the same sensations and the same emotions I had last season.”
Enrique, who guided PSG to their first Champions League title last term, said they were driven less by legacy than by the desire to remain the best team in Europe.
“Once is historic, twice is legendary,” a banner by PSG ultras recently read.
“But our motivation is not to make history because we already did that last year,” Luis Enrique said when asked about the slogan.
“Our motivation is to continue being one of the best teams in Europe and in the world.”
With Arsenal chasing a first Champions League title in the same way PSG were a year ago, Luis Enrique said his side now had an even greater source of motivation — the chance to win it again.
“It’s powerful,” he said of Arsenal’s drive. “But you know how powerful it is to try to win the second Champions League. It’s even bigger.”
The coach praised Arsenal and Mikel Arteta, saying the Premier League side deserved to win the English title after being “the most consistent team.
“They score a lot of goals and we defend very well, but the path to achieve that is different,” he said.
PSG forward Ousmane Dembele, who has fully recovered from a calf problem, said his individual ambitions, including Ballon d’Or speculation, were secondary to the club’s collective goals.
“It hasn’t changed my way of being or my way of playing,” Dembele said.
“I’ve always had the desire to win trophies with this club, with this squad and this staff. Individual trophies come afterwards. The most important thing is winning with PSG.”
The France forward added that the squad had managed to stay mentally and physically fresh despite another exhausting campaign in which they retained the Ligue 1 title.
“We didn’t have many holidays but the coach and the staff managed the season very well,” he said. “They gave us time to disconnect from football.”
“I feel 100 per cent and the group is ready too.”
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