MIKEL Arteta celebrated Arsenal reaching back-to-back Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 15 years and warned: “Now we want to make the next step.”
The Gunners, holding an impregnable 7-1 lead from the first leg, coasted through to the quarter-final 9-3 on aggregate to book a mouth-watering clash with holders Real Madrid in the last eight.
“You have to be at your best for the two games for every minute and don’t give anything away – because they will take it,” Arteta admitted of Madrid, who are the defending Champions.
The first and second legs of the quarter-finals hold April 8/9 and 15/16 respectively. It is the same stage that Mikel Arteta’s side were knocked out last season.
While Arsenal face an impossible 15-point gap to bridge in the English Premier League (EPL) title race, they are now just five games from Champions League glory.
“We have to value that and recognise it’s very difficult to do. Now we want to make the next step. It’s very difficult but we are capable to do it.
“It is important for us because we want to win – and to win, you have to go through the stages, and because the club needs it. We are a club that want to be the best and want to be competing with the best in the world. To do that you have to constantly be there. It’s very difficult but we’ve done it for two years in a row and we have the capacity and ability to do it even better,” Arteta said.
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Former England winger Raheem Sterling dazzled on a rare start, setting up Oleksandr Zinchenko’s superb opener and Declan Rice’s first-half header. But the Gunners were twice pegged back, and Sterling’s yellow card in stoppage time, for a poor tackle on Johan Bakayoko, means he is suspended for the home leg of next month’s duel with Real.
Arteta said: “I’m very happy for him and other individuals who haven’t had a lot of minutes recently. His final action was chasing back, when he was booked, but that’s the kind of player we want to see.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal will compete in the Champions League quarter-finals alongside Aston Villa after they eased through their Round of 16 ties to advance again.
Arsenal and Aston Villa are the last British teams standing in the Champions League after safely making it through the Round of 16.
They joined Liverpool in qualifying automatically for the knockout phases after finishing in the top eight of this year’s new-look competition, with Manchester City and Celtic going out in the play-offs.
Liverpool were knocked out on penalties after an enthralling tie with Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night despite emerging as one of the favourites to win the entire competition after topping the initial table phase.
The Gunners were all but through to the quarter-finals after thrashing PSV Eindhoven 7-1 in the first leg of their tie in the Netherlands.
Mikel Arteta’s men saw the job through with a much-changed side drawing 2-2 at The Emirates.
Aston Villa also went into this week’s fixture with a healthy advantage after beating Club Brugge 3-1 away in Belgium.
They stuck three past their opponents again at Villa Park to advance with a 3-0 triumph on the night and 6-1 on aggregate.
QUARTER-FINAL FIXTURES
FIRST LEG
April 8, 2025
Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan
Arsenal vs Real Madrid
April 9, 2025
Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund
PSG vs Aston Villa
SECOND LEG
April 15, 2025
Aston Villa vs PSG
Borussia Dortmund vs Barcelona
April 16, 2025
Real Madrid vs Arsenal
Inter Milan vs Bayern Munich
