Why Mikel Arteta needs an Arsenal history lesson after Champions League gaffe

Mikel Arteta will hope his latest rallying cry can push Arsenal over the line in their Champions League showdown with Sporting CP tonight.

But the Gunners boss may have to check his facts again after one particular claim made in the build-up to kick-off.

What can still be a phenomenal season for Arsenal has shown signs of faltering in recent weeks. After losing the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City, the north Londoners crashed out of the FA Cup against Southampton as their quadruple hopes were slashed to a double.

A dismal defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday piled further pressure on the Premier League leaders. The gap at the top is now just six points ahead of Sunday’s season-defining clash with Manchester City at the Etihad.

Focus is on the Champions League for now with Arsenal leading their quarter-final tie at its halfway stage after a 1-0 win away in Lisbon last week. They welcome the Portuguese giants to the Emirates tonight with a semi-final against Atletico Madrid awaiting the winner.

Arteta was loud and proud as he stressed just how far his side have come this season in his pre-match press conference.

‘What we are trying to achieve is difficult, it is challenging. It is bumpy at times. And it is supposed to be like this,’ Arteta said.

‘So you have to confront it. What I basically said is we are trying to do something in this competition that hasn’t been done in the history of the club, in 140 years. So that tells you the difficulty of that. It is the first time we are three years in a row in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the first time in our history.

‘For other clubs, that is the daily meal. For us, no. So we value a lot where we are. We have the opportunity to go to the semi-finals, we are competing to win the Premier League and we are in a really strong position after 22 years without doing it. So we know the difficulty. But the beauty is that it is challenging.’

He added later: ‘There are things we have done. I repeat myself. We haven’t been in this position in the Champions League ever in our history. We have overcome a lot of hurdles that have been here for years so the team has done something incredible because it has never been done before. We want to go to the next step and that is where the beauty lies.’

While stirring stuff, it’s not strictly true. While victory tonight would mark the first time Arsenal have reached back-to-back Champions League semi-finals, the feat of three consecutive quarter-finals was achieved under Arsene Wenger between 2008 and 2010.

In the 2007-08 campaign, Arsenal reached the last eight, eliminated by Liverpool on a crazy night at Anfield. The following season, they went one stage further, reaching the semi-finals where they were again scuppered by Premier League opposition, outclassed by Manchester United across two legs.

There was another quarter-final run in the 2009-10 season, this one halted by Barcelona and Lionel Messi who scored four-times in the second-leg.

After those heights, Arsenal’s miserable run of six consecutive last 16 exits followed before a six-year absence from the competition with Arteta leading them back to Europe’s premier club competition three years ago.

Arsenal of course also have a Champions League final appearance to their name, coming up short against Barcelona in 2006.