Mikel Arteta speaks to media ahead of Arsenal's Champions League Round of 16 clash away at Bayer Leverkusen. The Spaniard gave updates on a host of players who were doubts going into the game.
-TIMESTAMPS-
00:00 - Intro.
00:06 - You know what's at stake, no margin for manoeuvre.
00:29 - Odegaard: Out.
00:35 - Trossard and Calafiori: We'll see.
00:48 - Gabriel and Saliba: Yes.
00;51 - Rice and Zubimendi: Yes
01:05 - Take it game by game and earn the right to win.
01:44 - Lewis-Skelly in UCL: Every season is different. He's had good moments. Sometimes good form of teammates but he's doing well.
02:27 - Established yourself?: I think so. You need to perform on the day.
02:49 - Mentally preopared: Yes. When I joined a big part of the team hadn't played in UCL. Now time to perform.
03:18 - Lessons learned?: You learn about the things you do well and things you can improve. You have to apply your learnings in that moment.
03:59 - talk about Quadruple?: We know about the difficulty. We're going from competition to competition.
04:34 - Havertz at Leverkusen: Not too much. With the amount of games we have we didn't have time to analyse. I spoke to him, spent 10 years here, incredible culture. A lot of learnings.
05:!8 - Best condition?: Three weeks of preparing.
05:48 - Managing him: He never had a muscle injury, but then he did his hamstring and knee. These things happen but if there's a player to deal with it it's Kai. Now to enjoy all the work he's put in.
06:58 - Slaps with Rice, camaraderie: Bit of banter and fun.
07:16 - It's the interaction we have with the players. They know how muhch we care about them. The better the connection the more likely to achieve what we want.
07:49 - Togetherness: So much happens everyday. We have a fantastic group of players.
08:40 - Players to write story?: I live in the present with optimism and try to inspire my players in the same way. The important part is coming now.
09:20 - Xabi Alonso advice?: Not spoken much. But what he did here was historic and unique. We have two players recently from this club.
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By HaytersTV
March 10, 2026