Mikel Arteta has said Arsenal have beat ‘one of the best teams in the world’ after his side’s 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain.
Arsenal earned their first win of the Champions League campaign after a 2-0 victory over the French champions at the Emirates. Kai Havertz opened the scoring with a brave header from Leandro Trossard’s cross, as the German beat Gianluigi Donnarumma to the ball to nod home.
Bukayo Saka doubled the lead before half-time, when the winger’s free-kick evaded everyone inside a packed penalty area to find the bottom corner.
Arsenal produced a professional performance to see out the result against the Ligue 1 side, who have reached the Champions League semi-finals in three of the last five seasons.
Arteta said his team showed ‘personality’ and determination to get their European campaign up and running with a statement win.
“We played one of the best teams in the world, they are super dominant in the league, they have so much quality, understanding and tactical options, and we dealt with it really well, with a lot of personality,” he said at his post-match press conference.
“We were very determined, we wanted to be owning that pitch, playing the way we wanted to and in the first half, I think we were very impressive with the performance and the two goals that we scored.
Arteta says Arsenal showed ‘courage’ in PSG win
“I think they were really looking forward to it. They showed a lot of courage, that’s what I’m demanding, playing with a lot of courage against these teams. When the opponent is coming here, the opponents have to feel that. We are flowing, we want to play forward and we want to generate chances; the crowd was unbelievable again.
“Then obviously this is Europe, they had the ability to make you play deeper, start to play a game that we didn’t really want to play, but when we are forced, we are happy to do. I think overall, considering where we are coming from, the amount of games we are playing, I’m really happy.”
