The reaction from Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said it all at the final whistle of the UEFA Champions League final in Budapest on Saturday, as his side lost on penalty kicks.
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He looked devastated and heartbroken as Gabriel smashed his penalty kick over the bar, as PSG won 4-3 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw.
Here’s the latest Mikel Arteta reaction from the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary.
Mikel Arteta reaction
On a cruel way for the season to end: “It is very tough to accept. When you are so consistent in the competition all the way to the final and in the end you lose the trophy on penalty kicks. It is a difficult one,” Arteta told TNT Sports in the UK.
On the penalty decision in extra time to not give a penalty when Madueke went down: “I watched it back. It can easily be a penalty. Especially when you see the penalty they’re giving in the competition this season. The referee has made a decision and he made a different one on the penalty with Mosquera – and yeah that is an important one.”
On what he said to his players: “That I am so proud of them. I think this season that with the circumstances just internally we know what we’ve been through. They’ve given us so much joy. It is a privilege to manage this group of players, this team. I think the way they carry this badge and how much they put in to it. We got a big one and we miss on the biggest one.”
On if this season was a big step forward: “We haven’t done it [win the Premier League] for 22 years and it’s the second time in our history that we’ve done it [reach Champions League final]. We need to recognize the season that we’ve had. But at the moment nobody is going to take the pain away from you.”
On PSG taking a long time to when their first Champions League and if Arsenal should recognize how hard it is: “We know the teams they had in the past. They have a superb team. Congratulations to them. They are really hard to play against. That is why they are champions two times in a row. Individual quality they have, their manager, they are a top, top team.”
On what is next for this group: “I think you have to go through the motions. If you are in pain, go through the pain. If you think you could have done something else, learn from it. That is it and reflect on that and show the ambition that we want to again.”
Arteta was asked about Gabriel taking the penalty kick in his post-game press conference: “He wanted to take the fifth penalty. We have prepared and trained this moment.”
Declan Rice reaction
Arsenal star midfielder Declan Rice has been speaking to TNT Sports in the UK about losing in the Champions League final on penalty kicks.
He was asked what Mikel Arteta said to the players after the game: “He is gutted. We are gutted. It is the Champions League final. The emotions and the stakes are so high. It is cruel. That is football. He just spoke about how much he loves us as a group. This season what we’ve done in terms of how we’ve been every single game. 100 percent. Giving absolutely everything with everything that has been thrown at us. I think we’ve come really far as a group this year. I think we’ve come really far. This is only the start for this group. We got over the line in the Premier League, which was a dream come true. This would have been one step further. It wasn’t meant to be but we keep building. Since I’ve come to the club it was a quarterfinal exit, semifinal and now a final. We keep going, we stay positive and that is one thing about this group. This isn’t going to define us.”
“It is gutting. It is devastating to lose the Champions League final on penalties. I try to take a lot of perspective on how far we’ve come as a group. An incredible season. Our 63rd game in all competitions tonight. Given it absolutely everything up until this point. We took the game to penalties. It is a lottery. That’s football, you know? You either win on pens or lose on pens. Some of the best teams ever lost on penalties in finals. We were on the receiving end of that tonight. We win together, we lose together.
Can he even put it into words how much it hurts?
“I am so proud of this group and these boys. What a season. It has been incredible. I can’t speak highly enough of everyone. I am obviously gutted but I’m trying to take a little bit of perspective from where we started back last July to where we are now. It has been an incredible journey this season. We will be back.”
Asked how both Eberechi Eze and Gabriel were doing after they missed penalties in the shootout, Rice revealed they’re both ‘devastated’ and said ‘we love them and we are with them’ and said it happens in football.
Rice added on Eze and Gabriel: “Without them two this season we wouldn’t have won the Premier League. That is for sure. Gabriel, I’ve run out of words for him as a person and a player. Eze, the crucial goals he’s come up with this year, it happens. It’s football. It is cruel but we take the positives and keep going.”
Asked about Madueke potentially deserving to win a penalty kick: “I haven’t seen it back yet. On first glance on the pitch I think he is ahead of Nuno Mendes, and if I’m looking back at the one we got against Bayer Leverkusen it is very, very similar. I’m not going to get into that. I was gutted at the time because I thought the ref was going to have a look. But it obviously wasn’t clear enough to be a pen but I thought it was and so did our bench and our players. Look, against PSG, you need to be mentally on it for the whole game. I’m sure a lot of people would have wanted a game like how Bayern played them but if we would have gone out there and played like that, that is what they want. That is how they score five and six against opponents. You’ve got to be really resilient, really switched on, a lot of communication. I thought as they game went on we really grew into the game, had some really good chances. Nullified them to hardly any. Fair play to them. A great team, great manager, great individuals and they lost loads over the years and now they are having their time. I feel like that is going to keep happening with us. We are having these small losses but we are going to go on and keep pushing and try to achieve something big.”