Mikel Arteta hailed his “incredible” players for “making history” after Arsenal secured their place in the Champions League final with a 1-0 win against Atletico Madrid at the Emirates Stadium.
Bukayo Saka delivered the decisive goal on the stroke of half-time to fire the Gunners to a 2-1 aggregate semi-final triumph. They will face either Bayern Munich or Paris St Germain in Budapest on May 30.
Following Manchester City’s 3-3 draw at Everton on Monday – which puts the Premier League title race in Arsenal’s hands – and their triumph over Diego Simeone’s side here just 24 hours later, Arteta’s men are now only four matches away from completing a momentous double and securing the greatest campaign in the club’s 140-year history.
Arsenal have never won Europe’s grandest tournament, and Arteta said: “It was an incredible night. We made history again together and I cannot be happier and prouder for everybody that’s involved in this football club.
“The supporters were with us for every ball. They made it special and unique, and I have never felt it like that in this stadium.
“We knew how much it meant to everybody, we put everything on the line, the boys did an incredible job and after 20 years, and the second time in our history, we are back in the Champions League final.”
Arsenal will arrive for the showpiece as the sole unbeaten team in this season’s competition following a remarkable record of 11 wins and three draws. Indeed, their streak of 14 matches without defeat is a new Champions League record for the north London club.
But Arteta’s side will next take on West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday, prior to a home match against Burnley and an away clash at Crystal Palace. Three wins will be enough for Arsenal to secure their first Premier League title in 22 years before they head to Hungary.
And Arteta added: “It’s great. Everybody can feel a shift in energy, in belief, in everything. Let’s use it in the right way and understand that the margins and the difficulty of what we are trying to achieve are huge, but that we have the ability and the conviction to do it.
“I’m really going to enjoy it tonight, everybody’s enjoying this moment now. But tomorrow we have to start to prepare for Sunday. We have an incredible game against West Ham, a really tough one, and we’re going to have four days to do that. Let’s enjoy the moment but tomorrow let’s start to live in the present.”
Atleti head coach Simeone appeared to shove Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta on the touchline in the concluding moments of the game. However, he was magnanimous in defeat.
Simeone said: “If we got knocked out it is because our opponents deserved to get through. I don’t want to make excuses.
“Mikel Arteta has done an incredible job at Arsenal. He has been trying to get to this point for a long time, to win the Premier League and the Champions League.
“They have incredible financial power, and that is linked to what they are doing, but I am pleased for them because they deserve it.”
