Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is confident the heartbreak of missing out on winning last season’s UEFA Champions League will help their charge for the 2025-26 campaign, Afrosport reports.
The Gunners put in a solid performance as they edged out 15-time champions Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals last term but were knocked out by eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 in the semi-finals.
The North London giants have since strengthened with eight summer player recruits that includes highly-priced Viktor Gyokeres, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke and Martin Zubimendi, and will begin their continued quest for a maiden European title against Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday.
“You take a lot of learnings from it – it’s painful because… it’s about the expectation that we created and the real conviction that we had within the club, the team that we could go all the way,” Arteta said.
“We showed a very high level of consistency and quality throughout the competition and [we’ll] learn from it and try to be better.”
He added: “[We learned] we are good enough, that we can compete against any opposition on the day and on top of that, that things have to go your way.
“You need to have a full squad available when it comes to the most critical moments in the season and then, the ball has to go in, in the right moment, or [you have to get] the right decision, because the margins are so small.”
The Champions League is back ✨ pic.twitter.com/c1QQsH0Fvw
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) September 15, 2025
Arteta confirmed Gabriel Saliba, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard, Ben White and Bukayo Saka will miss the trip to San Mames due to injury, though Saliba trained with the team at London Colney on Monday.
