2026-03-12 12:01:39
Mikel Arteta expects Arsenal to overcome Bayer Leverkusen and progress to the Champions League quarter-finals.
The Gunners salvaged a 1-1 draw against the Bundesliga outift in Wednesday’s (11.03.26) last 16 first leg thanks to a late penalty from Kai Havertz and the coach has vowed that the team will be better on home soil in next week’s return leg.
Arteta told reporters: “[It is a reminder of] how difficult it is to win against any opponent in the competition and especially away from home.
“There is a big factor there. Then you realise what we’ve done to win eight games in this competition [during the group stage], because it’s so tough that nobody did it before.
“Fully aware of that, we knew the importance of the game and the difficulty of the opponent and now we need to finish it in London.
“The level of execution obviously has to be better and it will be better in the second leg. We’ll adapt a few things and yes, we’ll move on.”
Arteta revealed that he was frustrated by his team’s reaction to Bayer Leverkusen’s second-half kick-off, as the German side won a corner that they promptly scored the opener from.
He told TNT Sports: “We wanted to start very strong in the second half and we’ve done completely the opposite. It starts [from] not paying enough attention on the kick-off which we already discussed before the match. From that they have a clear header and they score.”
The Arsenal boss revealed that his coaching staff had shown video clips of Leverkusen’s restarts to the players before the game.
Arteta said: “They are the details. Everybody is so prepared in every action and we knew that and they have certain routines because they have done it a few days ago in the Bundesliga three times in a row.
“And we showed those images but you actually have to see it and do it. But we haven’t done it and we’ve paid the price for it.”
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