Arsenal Sets Champions League Record, But Arteta Craves Trophies

Mikel Arteta emphasized Arsenal’s focus on winning trophies over setting records, despite their historic 7-1 victory against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League at Philips Stadion.

In Tuesday’s Champions League round-of-16 first leg, Arsenal achieved the largest away win in the competition’s knockout stage, defeating their opponents.

Goals by Jurriën Timber, Ethan Nwaneri, Mikel Merino, Leandro Trossard, and Martin Ødegaard propelled Arsenal to a commanding 5-1 lead within the first 48 minutes.

Ødegaard netted again before Riccardo Calafiori added a seventh to inflict the joint-biggest defeat in PSV’s 112-year history.

Asked whether his team had just secured another landmark moment, Arteta said, “It’s very significant but it’s just to put yourself in a really strong position to go through to the next round.

“That’s it; that’s the reality. To put landmarks, we have to really make it to a very different level. But obviously, this team has done a lot that hasn’t been done in many, many years or in the history of the club.

“Which means a lot, but that’s not what we want.”

Arsenal’s attack had been struggling recently, scoring only twice in their previous four games, largely due to the absence of key attacking players Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka, and Gabriel Martinelli, who were all sidelined with injuries.

“That’s the beauty of it, nobody in this room if I give you an envelope and say, ‘can you predict what’s going to happen tomorrow and who is going to score,’ [nobody would say 7-1] that’s the beauty of football,” Arteta said.

“In football, and you do very well today, put your head down, be humble, and analyze how you can improve. Because the next game is going to be completely different to this one, and nobody can write the script, unfortunately, even if we would like to.”