Arsenal-PSG: Mikel Arteta, the “Petit Guardiola” who put the Gunners back on good rails

Wednesday April 16 in the morning, Pep Guardiola’s phone, Manchester City coach, rings. Mikel Arteta wishes to show her his gratitude, a few hours before the Arsenal match on the lawn of Real Madrid, in the quarterfinals return from the Champions League. “He was an inspiration, it was he who bet on me. I will always be grateful to him. Without him, I would not be there ”said the Gunners coach at a press conference, just after the qualification of his team for the last square in the largest of European football competitions.

Rather than humbly thank his mentor and compatriot, the 43-year-old Spaniard could have boasted: Arsenal had just tried the title holder (3-0, 2-1), a warning for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), which the London club will find in the semi-final to go, Tuesday April 29 at 9 p.m. PSG knows what to stick to, since it had not made the weight during the match between the two teams, on October 1ᵉʳ, during the league phase (0-2).

“Arteta was able to change Arsenal to make it one of the most competitive teams in the world”then recognized Luis Enrique. The Spanish coach of Paris admitted defeated by his counterpart, which he had known for a very young player at the Barça in the late 1990s. At the time, Mikel Arteta was a promising talent, who deserted his Basque country – where he grew up with his friend Xabi Alonso, who became coach of Bayer Leverkusen – to join the Catalan club training center.

You have 77.55% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.