Mikel Arteta has suggested Arsenal want trophies and not records after they made Champions League history by thrashing PSV Eindhoven 7-1 at Philips Stadion.
Tuesday’s round-of-16, first leg clash was the biggest knockout away win ever in the competition after goals from Jurriën Timber, Ethan Nwaneri, Mikel Merino, Leandro Trossard and Martin Ødegaard put the Gunners 5-1 up after 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 had scored just twice in their last four matches as they looked blunted by the absence of attacking quartet Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli through injury.
“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, analyse 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.”
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