Mikel Arteta wants Arsenal hero to emerge on Gunners' biggest night in Paris | OneFootball

The Gunners are aiming to overtturn a first-leg deficit in Europe for the first time

Mikel Arteta has told his Arsenal players to embrace the stage of Wednesday’s showdown with Paris Saint-Germain and make themselves heroes by firing the club into the Champions League final.

“Huge enthusiasm, huge energy,” said Arteta. “We are a win away from being the Champions League final in the most beautiful city in the world.

“Against a great opponent, it doesn’t get much better than that. We are here to make history, we have a big opportunity tomorrow.

You’re going to get remembered for those moments. The biggest stage is when the team needs it, when the club needs it, to deliver those moments

Mikel Arteta

“We bring a result that gives us so much clarity about what we have to do. A lot of learning from the first leg as well and how small the margins are between the two teams.

“The result, in my opinion, should have been very different to that one. So tomorrow, another opportunity to prove that and the right to be in the final.”

Arsenal have had heroes during this Champions League run, most famously when Declan Rice scored two stunning free-kicks in the first leg of their quarter-final win over Real Madrid.

Arteta wants more of those “magic moments”, which he believed they lacked last season when they crashed out in the quarter-finals.

And asked if Wednesday night in Paris was the moment for a player to step up and be hero, Arteta said: “It has to be.

“You’re going to get remembered for those moments. The biggest stage is when the team needs it, when the club needs it, to deliver those moments.

“I’m playing with that mindset. This kind of game is, in my opinion, the right one and that’s the work that we’ve done in the last few hours.

“I mean, again, one win away from being in the final. Let’s not do the talking, let’s do tomorrow on that pitch at 9pm when the game starts. So best, best, best, best version and win the game.

“We are more than capable, we’ve done it in Europe against a lot of odds. Probably nobody would say that we would be in this position. So that was against history as well. So let’s make our own history.

“I think that’s how you have to embrace and take the game, to make something special. As we said, to win the final of the Champions League, you have to do something exceptional throughout the tournament.

“We’ve done a lot of great things, but tomorrow in Paris against this team is the moment to do it. We want to elevate the level of this team and start to make history. That’s the opportunity we have ahead of us to do it.”