Mikel Arteta is excited about the chance to see his side battle it out with one of their top competitions this season at the Emirates Stadium when Paris Saint-Germain visits on Tuesday night.
The big games keep coming for the gunners after the draw against the defending Europa League holders Atalanta two weeks ago. With the visit of the threw-in-a-row French champions Arsenal will hope to start their first home European campaign with a win.
Having only returned to the competition after a six-year lay off, Mikel is thrilled for the match and believes it will allow the north London side to measure against one of the finest clubs in Europe given their history and the star power at their disposal.
Arteta looking forward to PSG clash
“Everybody is looking forward to it,” he said. “The group stage is a bit different this season and the opposition we are going to face tomorrow is probably at the highest level that you can face in European football. But it’s a good opportunity for us to see how we deal with these nights, how prepared we are and how we can impose ourselves in this kind of context”.
“PSG are exceptional and they dominate every phase of play. They have a very clear intention of how they want to dominate the game through the ball and when they don’t have it, they want it straight back. They are really aggressive with it and they confront you.”
“Of course, we want to win the game and we know after the draw in Atalanta, with the number of games we have left still, it’s going to be really important. Nothing is going to be decided tomorrow.”
Mikel will come up against Luis Enrique, a midfielder he grew up playing with as a youngster at Barcelona while attempting to advance through the renowned La Masia academy in the late 1990s.
Mikel also expressed his appreciation for all that his old teammate has accomplished wherever he has worked. A stellar playing career was followed by a prosperous time as a manager, which included winning the Champions League with Barca in 2015.
“I’m a huge admirer of him,” he added. “He has an unbelievable personality, huge character, huge energy, always very supportive with young players. What I love about him is wherever he’s been, as a player or a manager, his fingerprints are all over the place.”
“You can sense it’s his team the way his players behave, the way they want to attack and dominate games. The spirit, the energy they have, he has this unbelievable power with all the clubs he’s been at, with the Spain national team. And then his approach to life, to his profession – it’s something to really look at and I learnt a lot of things from him.”
“I admire his honesty. He’s straightforward – he will look in your eyes and tell you what he thinks. In the end, players appreciate that. They might like it more or less, depending on how it happens, but I have had two or three players here who were with him in the national team, and they always said the same thing, they all enjoy playing under him. When somebody can make you feel like that in this profession, it’s a big quality to have.”
“He’s won pretty much every competition you can imagine already in his career, he has transformed a club that has a very clear identity. It’s a very good test for all of us.”
