{"id":702495,"date":"2026-05-29T22:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/702495\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T22:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:29:11","slug":"champions-league-glory-a-bigger-destination-for-arsenal-after-finally-winning-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/702495\/","title":{"rendered":"Champions League glory a \u2018bigger destination\u2019 for Arsenal after finally winning Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta meets the media ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest on Friday.Ina Fassbender\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Winning the Premier League just isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

That was the message Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta and his players conveyed on Friday as they set out their determination to deliver the best season in the club\u2019s 140-year history by also becoming European champions for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get the taste of winning and lifting a trophy, you know how nice it feels,\u201d Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard said, a day before playing Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we want to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

A suggestion by a reporter that Saturday\u2019s title match at Puskas Arena might be a \u201cfree hit\u201d for Arsenal was immediately shot down by Arteta.<\/p>\n

His players, Arteta insisted, now \u201cwant more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ambition is bigger,\u201d the Spanish coach said. \u201cWe have one, and we want the second one, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been talking about.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has to be a platform to reach bigger destinations, and I\u2019m going for more. The team is capable of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arsenal ended its 22-year wait for a Premier League title by outlasting Manchester City this season, setting off an explosion of joy in north London and beyond.<\/p>\n

Tens of thousands of fans filled the streets to celebrate. Congratulations filtered down from the British Prime Minister. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was seen wearing Arsenal-branded clothing when he joined residents across the city for Eid al-Adha prayers this week.<\/p>\n

This is widely regarded as Arsenal\u2019s moment in the English game, with Manchester City potentially vulnerable following Pep Guardiola\u2019s exit and other rivals in English soccer \u2014 like Liverpool and Chelsea \u2014 going through difficulties or a transitional period.<\/p>\n

Yet the Gunners have also risen to the summit of European soccer, topping the league phase of the Champions League with eight straight wins and reaching the final without being beaten along the way.<\/p>\n

All those near misses are in the past. Arteta said he was even encouraged watching back replays of Arsenal\u2019s semifinal exit at the hands of PSG last season, saying he felt his team deserved more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a long way away, trying to win the Premier League and the Champions League,\u201d said Bukayo Saka, the England winger who has come through Arsenal\u2019s academy and is the sole survivor from the FA Cup-winning team from 2020 \u2014 the only previous time the team won a trophy under Arteta.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like this last week it has all become a reality,\u201d Saka added. \u201dI\u2019m excited about the opportunity to win another trophy and create history for the club that I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

PSG \u2018already in the history books\u2019<\/p>\n

PSG is also trying to create some history by becoming just the second team \u2014 after Real Madrid from 2016-18 \u2014 to successfully defend the title since the competition was rebranded as the Champions League in 1992.<\/p>\n

PSG coach Luis Enrique said his team had \u201calready gone down in the history books as one of the best in the world\u201d and disagreed with the sentiment that this final meant more to Arsenal, which is going for a first Champions League title.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, that\u2019s powerful,\u201d Luis Enrique said. \u201cBut do you know how powerful it is winning a second Champions League in a row? It\u2019s bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta meets the media ahead of the Champions League…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,561,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-702495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}