‘We are champions, Daddy!’ – Mikel Arteta found out title news from tearful son | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta revealed he was building a fire as his crying son broke the news to him that Arsenal had been crowned Premier League champions for the first time in 22 years.

Arteta, speaking publicly for the first time since Arsenal were guaranteed of this season’s title, also admitted the “relief” of proving his doubters wrong before laying down the gauntlet to the club’s rivals by declaring: “Now we want more.”

Manchester City’s 1-1 draw against Bournemouth allowed Arsenal to secure the title with a game to spare, marking Sunday’s finale at Crystal Palace the first lap of their victory parade.

Arsenal’s players and staff watched Tuesday’s drama unfold at the club’s training base, but Arteta headed home to be with his family.

open image in gallery

Arsenal’s success sparked wild celebrations outside the Emirates Stadium (Jeff Moore/PA) (PA Wire)

“It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had,” said Arteta. “I was supposed to be here, at the training ground, watching the game with the boys and the staff because that’s what they wanted – but I couldn’t.

“Twenty minutes before the game I had to leave. I couldn’t bring the energy that I wanted, and ultimately it was their moment to watch it together and be themselves.

“I went home, I went outside to the garden, and I started to build some fire and started to do some barbecue. I didn’t watch any of it. I was just hearing some noises in the background, in the living room and suddenly the magic happened.

“My oldest son (Gabriel, who plays for Arsenal Under 18s) opened the garden door, he started to run towards me, he started to cry, gave me a hug, and said: ‘We are champions, Daddy’. Just to see the joy, it was magical.

“And a minute later, Martin (Odegaard) sent over a video: ‘Where are you? Come over.’ I said: ‘Guys, enjoy it for a while and I’ll see you in a few hours somewhere in London’. It was beautiful.”

open image in gallery

Arsenal took their celebrations to the exclusive Tape nightclub in Mayfair where Arteta joined them as he celebrated just the second trophy of his near seven-year tenure. And the Spaniard, whose side face Paris St Germain in the Champions League final a week on Saturday, admitted he had doubted along the way whether he was the right man to deliver the title.

He continued: “There is a lot of emotion, joy, happiness, being proud. And as well, relief.

“But I’m most proud of how we won it. We showed a very important value, not only in sport, but in life which is perseverance, to be resilient, to be composed in moments when people are doubting you, to be vulnerable because I’ve asked that question to myself: ‘Am I good enough to lead this team, this club, these players to win a major trophy?’

“And until you do it, you cannot validate yourself. And I thought about the best way to do it. We brought people in from outside and speakers to inspire them. But you have to find your own way.

“The big lesson here is to stay humble, stay curious and focus on what you want to achieve. And if you give your very best, you give yourself a good chance, and we gave ourselves a very good chance for three years and this season we’ve done it.

“Of course, the thing now is you want more, and we have the biggest one to play in Budapest in a few days.”

Arsenal, runners-up in the league for the previous three seasons, had faced accusations of “bottling” their trophy bid after they surrendered the league summit in the wake of a 2-1 defeat at Manchester City on April 19.

However, they bounced back by winning their next four without conceding, and Arteta continued: “In our job, you have to respect every opinion. The difficulty is to place those opinions in the place that they belong.

“Some of them can be extremely useful and they can help you to be better, or open your eyes to something that maybe you don’t have the capacity to look at.

“But others can be just damaging and that is the only purpose. You have to keep them away from you otherwise it’s going to affect you in a way that you’re going to transmit it to the team, and that cannot happen as a manager.”