Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has said that his side can “dominate” the Champions League in years to come.
The Gunners’ boss will hope that his side can keep hold of their 3-0 lead against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final, as they head to the Bernabeu on Wednesday night.
It is Arsenal’s chance to win their first piece of silverware since 2019/20 when they won the FA Cup in Mikel Arteta’s first season at the Emirates.
They have the chance to make history against Real Madrid as with a win, they will make the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 2009 under Arsene Wenger.
Ahead of the game, Arteta has said that their performance in the Champions League this year has shown that they can “dominate” the competition in years to come.
He said in his pre-match press conference: “I think it’s excitement [rather than nerves]. When we talk about creating that, it’s all about the history, we’ve never won the competition, and we are trying to do something consistently where we can start to dominate the European competition.
“We have to earn the right tomorrow to do that on the biggest stage. It doesn’t get any better than this, and I think we have a real opportunity for that too.
“A lot of clubs have built their history by doing it many times, trying many times, sometimes failing, sometimes being successful.
“Last year, we had an experience and with that one, we want to be better this season, and apply that to reach the semi-finals, which will be only our third time in the history of our football club.”
Who would Arsenal face in the semi-finals?
If the Gunners are to beat Real Madrid, then they would play against Paris Saint-Germain in the next round after the French side beat Premier League rivals Aston Villa in the quarter-finals 5-4 on aggregate.
Arsenal would then have to play one of Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Inter Milan in the final with Barcelona the current favourites to go on and win the competition.
However, before looking ahead to that, Arsenal will need to keep the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr quiet at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night.
Click here to see Arsenal’s predicted XI for the Gunners ahead of the game against Madrid.
