Mikel Arteta believes Champions League quarter-final success against Bayern Munich will take Arsenal to the next level as he told his players to “write a different story” at the Allianz Arena.
The Gunners head into Wednesday’s second leg locked at 2-2 with Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern after a thrilling draw at the Emirates Stadium last week.
Defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday has since dented Arsenal’s Premier League title bid as attention now turns to Europe once again.
Arsenal had lost seven last-16 ties in succession before returning to the Champions League this season – three times to Bayern.
Arteta, though, feels reaching a semi-final against either holders Manchester City or record 14-time winners Real Madrid would elevate Arsenal.
Asked …
that Arsenal have turned down the chance to sign Newcastle United midfielder Cheick Tiote.
The Ivory Coast international has been continuously linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium in over the past two seasons, though Arsene Wenger has declined the chance to sign the 28 year old this month.
Since moving to St James’ Park in the summer of 2010, Tiote has racked up one hundred and thirty appearances in all competitions, scoring his one and only goal in a dramatic 4-4 with Arsenal in February 2011.
He is currently away on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, and won his forty-eighth senior cap in last week’s 1-1 draw with Mali.
Arsenal, who go in to the weekend in fifth place, one point behind fourth place Manchester United host A…
Celtic completed an unprecedented quadruple treble with a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Hearts in the delayed 2019-20 Scottish Cup final.
Hoops boss Neil Lennon has been under huge pressure this season, but his side made history at Hampden Park on Sunday.
The Glasgow giants made hard work of completing a fourth successive Scottish Premier League, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup clean sweep in a final that was pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic.
They were level at 3-3 after extra-time, but the Championship leaders went down 4-3 on spot-kicks.
Club. Seasons. Trophies.
Congratulations to Neil and the Bhoys, a
…
Cristiano Ronaldo s second spell at Manchester United officially came to an end on Tuesday.
United confirmed the Portugal superstar has departed Old Trafford by mutual consent, despite having six months to run on his contract.
The news comes a week on from an explosive interview in which Ronaldo declared he feels betrayed by United and expressed his lack of respect for manager Erik ten Hag.
While the World Cup will be top of the agenda for Ronaldo in the weeks ahead, the five-time Ballon d Or winner must also now find a new club for the start of next year.
Which team he joins, though, remains difficult to predict.
Having unsuccessfully pushed to join a Champions League club prior to the start of the season, a return to Europe s elite competition m…
Simone Inzaghi has set and maintained high standards at Inter, so says his Nerazzurri assistant Massimiliano Farris.
Inter clinched their 20th Serie A title by beating fierce rivals Milan in Monday s derby.
That meant that Sunday s home meeting with Torino was something of a celebration for Inter and their fans, and the team delivered with a 2-0 victory.
Hakan Calhanoglu scored both of Inter s goals, and Farris, who spoke to the media instead of his boss, piled the praise on Inzaghi.
In quotes reported by Football Italia, Farris told DAZN: We ve tried to build a positive environment. We lost important players [last summer], but we welcomed important players who made themselves loved.
Going to the pitch and working this season was a pleasure. We h…
Massimo Carrera has demanded full focus from his Juventus side as he sets out to claim their first home win over Chievo since 2009.
The Serie A champions have started off this season s campaign with three wins out of three, nine goals scored and only two conceded to stretch their unbeaten run to 42 games.
But the 48-year-old coach, who is at the helm while Antonio Conte serves his 10-month ban, has demanded full focus against Chievo on Saturday who they have failed to beat in their last five attempts.
It s been a while since we got the better of Chievo, so we ll need to take to the field with the right mentality. We know we ll be in for an extremely difficult game and must remain focused, he said.
“We re aware that we re the team to beat. Everyone we…
Spanish daily newspaper that West Ham are on the verge of signing Italy international forward Simone Zaza.
The 24-year-old returned to Turin as Juventus exercised a buy-back option earlier this summer, but it appears that coach Max Allegri has not been impressed with the attacker.
And with Fernando Llorente expected to remain at the club, the coach seems ready to cash in on Simone Zaza.
According to Marca, West Ham are expected to sign the forward on a season-long loan for €3 million, while the purchase option would be set at €15 million.
Simone Zaza has two full Serie A seasons behind him, both spent at Sassuolo, and he has managed a total of 20 goals in 64 league outings for the Neroverdi.
But, just as everybody expected him to nail down a…
Jose Mourinho believes Manchester United s Premier League rivals would rather be in the Europa League final than scrapping over a top-four finish.
Mourinho s side must beat Ajax in Stockholm later this month to gain a Champions League berth for next season via victory in Europe s secondary club competition.
Defeat to Tottenham on Sunday ruled out the prospect of United finishing in the top four domestically, with Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal contesting the final two spots as the season enters its final week.
We, Manchester United, for us it is more important to win titles than to finish top four, Mourinho told reporters.
So if we can win a third title [including the Community Shield], or like you like to say a second title, if we can do that …
It perhaps served as a decent indication of how well things are going for Manchester City right now that when last season s painful defeats to Arsenal and Lyon were mentioned in a pre-match media conference, Pep Guardiola broke out into a big grin.
The anguish of those respective FA Cup semi-final and Champions League quarter-final losses are an ever-fading memory for a side on a 20-match winning run and well-placed for success in each of the four major competitions.
But those reverses, plus home and away 2019-20 losses to Wolves – who visit the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League on Tuesday, had a common theme: the opposition lined up with three central defenders.
Whether facing a back three or a back five (Guardiola prefers the latter description), Cit…
Paris Saint-Germain will use their final Ligue 1 matches of the season to prepare for the Coupe de France final, so says Luis Enrique.
PSG were beaten at home by Nice early in the season, and are away to the same opposition on Wednesday for their penultimate league game.
Having sealed the Ligue 1 title, PSG failed to overcome Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals, losing 2-0 on aggregate.
While a visit to Wembley on June 1 evaded them, PSG do have the chance to claim another trophy when they take on Lyon in the Coupe de France final on May 25.
When asked if PSG wanted revenge for their loss to Nice earlier in the campaign, Luis Enrique told reporters: No, not at all to be honest, it is not about revenge, they played very well.
I c…