Arteta on rebuilding our Champions League pedigree | News

Ahead of our first Champions League knockout game of the 2025/26 at Bayer Leverkusen, Mikel Arteta feels that we have firmly established ourselves as regulars in the business end of the competition – but we have to now back that up.

For the third season in a row, we have progressed to the last 16 of Europe’s premier club competition, and this time around we did so in style by winning all eight of our league phase fixtures to set a new club record.

And having reached the quarter-finals and then the semi-finals in the last two campaigns, Mikel is hoping that the experiences gained by his squad during that time help them to make another giant step forward by reaching the final this time around, but that all starts with a positive showing in our round of 16 first leg in Leverkusen.

When asked in his pre-match press conference if we belong in the latter stages of the Champions League, Mikel said: “I believe so, but this is football and you have to show it tomorrow night. I know that you have to be so clear about what the game is going to demand, you need to perform on the day. The Champions League is about the day and within that day there are moments, and you have to be better than the opponent.

“[The squad] certainly have more experience in the competition. When I joined, there was a big part of the team that hadn’t played in this competition. That’s obviously something that is necessary like in any other competition and they understand it better. Now we have to perform.

“You start the second part of the campaign and you know what is at stake. We start to play games where you are in or you are out, there is no margin for manoeuvre, and we’re going to face a very difficult contest tomorrow against a really good team.”

With only two months of the season left to go, we are still in with a chance of winning four trophies this season, including a first league title in 22 years and a first-ever Champions League triumph.

With so much at stake, Mikel has urged everyone to focus on the game against Bayer Leverkusen first of all, tackle each challenge as it comes and see where we get to. 

“The only thing you can take is game by game and try tomorrow to be better than the opposition and earn the right to win,” he added. “We always talk about that. Obviously we play so many games in different competitions – in the next three games we’re going to play in three different competitions, against completely different opponents. 

“You have to adapt to that. You have to, very early in the match, understand what the game is going to require, adapt to it and be better than them.“I live in the present and I prepare for what I expect and what I feel every single day with optimism. Putting everything that I have in, and trying to transmit and inspire those players to feel the same way. And then this is football. We have to do it. There is so much to do. There is a lot that we have done, but the important part is coming now and it starts tomorrow.”

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