With the Champions League quarter-finals about to begin, Arteta urged Arsenal to stay true to their core values.

In the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final, Arsenal will face Sporting Lisbon away from home. At the pre-match press conference, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta called on the team to bounce back strongly from their recent slump.

In previous domestic cup competitions, Arsenal suffered consecutive defeats in the League Cup final and the FA Cup, marking their first losing streak of the season. Facing the pressure, Arteta appeared remarkably calm in a pre-match interview: "We need to maintain an objective perspective and recognize how difficult it has been for us to get to where we are today this season."

“We need to feel the pain of defeat and turn it into motivation for improvement. We are very clear about what happened and why. We don’t think we should have lost that game, but that’s football. We have to defend in the strongest way possible, and those qualities have brought us to where we are today.”

This marks Arsenal's third consecutive season returning to the Champions League quarterfinals, and Arteta is brimming with confidence. He encouraged the players: "I think when you have the opportunity we have now, you have to seize it with excitement."

"By preparing ourselves in the best possible way, focusing on the present and what we must do. Especially in terms of our team's characteristics, we need to be very clear about what has brought us to where we are today. That's what we need to focus on."

Image source: Internet/Arsenal official website