{"id":586934,"date":"2026-04-16T02:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/586934\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T02:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:50:08","slug":"mikel-arteta-tells-arsenal-fans-to-enjoy-not-criticise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/586934\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta tells Arsenal fans to enjoy, not criticise"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON — Mikel Arteta has urged Arsenal<\/a> fans to “enjoy where we are” after reaching the Champions League semifinals amid criticism of their performances.<\/p>\n

The Gunners played out a 0-0 draw<\/a> against Sporting CP<\/a> on Wednesday to secure a spot in the last four and set up a tie with Atl\u00e9tico Madrid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

– Champions League recap: D\u00edaz, Olise wins it for Bayern, Arsenal advance<\/a>
– ‘Joke’: Madrid fume at costly red card in UCL exit<\/a>
– Despite Bar\u00e7a’s strong effort, Atl\u00e9ti end their UCL hopes<\/a><\/p>\n

It is the first time in the club’s history that they have appeared in back-to-back semifinals of Europe’s premier club competition but they mustered one just one shot on target and had to rely on their resilience to secure a 1-0 aggregate win.<\/p>\n

Arsenal are also top of the Premier League<\/a> but face lingering questions about their ability to end a six-year trophy drought after losing the Carabao Cup<\/a> Final to Manchester City<\/a> before exiting the FA Cup at Championship side Southampton.<\/p>\n

The Gunners have never won the Champions League and are aiming to lift the Premier League trophy for the first time in 22 years.<\/p>\n

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrates with assistant Albert Stuivenberg after clinching a place in the Champions League semifinals.\u00a0Stuart MacFarlane\/Arsenal FC via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Arteta cited the Amazon “All or Nothing” documentary, which followed the side through the 2021-22 season, hinting that there had been a disproportionate backlash against his team after a tricky run.<\/p>\n

“I wish that we were doing the Arsenal documentary this season, and you can film the last 48 hours and know everything that has been said [about us], but [then] we are watching the series in July, and then we have to ask ourselves the question, we are watching the movies and say, ‘OK, where does Arsenal place?’<\/p>\n

“I think all of us will say they are in the bottom three [based on the criticism]. So what are we talking about, guys? Please, enjoy where we are as a club.<\/p>\n

“If someone doesn’t want to do it, so be it. We are enjoying a lot, and I feel a huge gratitude for what the players are doing and our supporters, so thank you.”<\/p>\n

Arteta revealed that Declan Rice<\/a> had defied all expectations to play the full game against Sporting despite missing training a day earlier.<\/p>\n

“Declan yesterday, he was shattered,” said Arteta. “He had no chance to play today, he wasn’t feeling good at all today, he played 94 minutes at the level that he’s on.<\/p>\n

“Every single player is putting everything through the line to contribute, to give their best and I really value that from the team.”<\/p>\n

Noni Madueke<\/a> will need to be assessed ahead of Sunday’s mammoth trip to City — who are six points behind Arsenal but with a game-in-hand — after being forced off on Wednesday with a knee problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON — Mikel Arteta has urged Arsenal fans to “enjoy where we are” after reaching the Champions League…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-586934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}