October 4, 2024
Ahead of Arsenal’s return to the UEFA Champions League following their hiatus, the club’s gaffer Mikel Arteta in the pre-match conference against PSV today ruled out winger Gabriel Martinelli from the encounter.
The Spanish coach who attended to numerous questions also talked about the emotions ahead of his first UCL for Arsenal as a coach, among many other topics.
“Proud and excited. It’s been a long time for the club since we have been in the competition and obviously, it’s the first time for me as a manager, so I’m really looking forward to it,” said Arteta ahead of his CL managerial debut.
“Yes because we’ve been chasing it and fighting for it and now we’ve got it, we have to make the most out of it. It starts at home and I’m sure our supporters are going to be really excited about it and it’s about managing that and enjoying the challenge,” he added.
On his confidence and he has in his squad in qualifying from the group stage, Arteta said: “That’s what we want to do, but this is football and tomorrow we’re going to play against a really good team. They haven’t lost a game [this season] and they have won the majority of them, and they are used to winning like every other team that is in the Champions League. It will be a really tough test, I’m sure about that.”
Gabriel Martinelli who is one of the key players for the side will unfortunately miss the clash against PSV, but the possibility of him featuring in their next game remains to be seen.
“He felt something in his hamstring and we need to do some further tests to assess if there is any big damage or not but he will be out for tomorrow’s game, that’s for sure.
“It’s a possibility but we don’t know yet. We need some more tests and see what happens,” the 41-year-old manager said.
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