Mikel Arteta accepts Arsenal need to improve after PSG Champions League final defeat
Boss acknowledges team ‘need to do better ... to get the outcome we want’ after penalty shoot-out heartbreak in Budapest
The last time Arsenal reached a Champions League final they lost it, and then it took 20 long years to claw their way back to that stage again.
After Saturday’s agonising penalty shoot-out defeat by Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest, their goal is not only to return as soon as possible, but to finally claim the trophy for themselves.
After winning the Premier League for the first time in 22 years, Mikel Arteta and his team have proven they are back among the elite, but the battle against the new back-to-back European champions also exposed clear areas to improve on.
Gunners coach Arteta insisted his team can end their pain, after a fifth consecutive defeat in a European final, if they evolve both wisely and quickly.
“We want to reach another level and we’re going to have to show that ambition because we are more than capable of doing it, but it’s going to demand to be very, very ambitious, very fast and very smart,” the Spaniard said.
Arteta and his players had to trudge bitterly past the trophy their club is yet to claim, as they collected their runner-up medals at the Puskas Arena.