Thierry Henry delivered his honest thoughts on Mikel Arteta after Arsenal reached the Champions League final
Mikel Arteta leads the celebrations(Image: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
Thierry Henry confessed he had questioned Mikel Arteta as he praised the Arsenal boss for guiding the club to their first Champions League final in 20 years. The Gunners will take on either Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain on May 30 after Bukayo Saka’s strike secured a 2-1 aggregate victory over Atletico Madrid.
Back in the driving seat of the title race following Manchester City’s stalemate at Everton on Monday, Arsenal are on the brink of an historic double. That would compensate for the disappointments under Arteta, including three consecutive second-place finishes.
Club icon Henry, who featured in Arsenal’s only other Champions League final appearance in 2006, has previously cast doubt on the club’s progress. Twelve months ago, he criticised the Gunners for failing to challenge Liverpool in the title race and suggested it was “normal” to scrutinise Arteta and the squad.
However, speaking on CBS’s coverage of the semi-final triumph, Henry expressed his admiration for both the team and Arteta. He said: “I always say I believe in what I see, and when I see something that you can be proud of, then you call it.
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“I don’t like to call stuff on ‘maybe’. You know what, I am so proud of the team. You have to give this man [Arteta] a lot of credit because he came under a lot of criticism.
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“I was in that too, I will be honest, for a very long time. You have to give him his credit. Like I said, I am going to wait now to see if he can go over the line in the final and in the league, but thank you.”
Following the match, Arteta referenced the Gunners’ last appearance in a Champions League final, which ended in crushing disappointment with a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona.
Thierry Henry reacts to Arsenal’s semi-final victory(Image: CBS/YouTube)
He said: “We knew how much it meant to everybody, we put everything on the line, the boys did an incredible job and after 20 years, and the second time in our history, we are back in the Champions League final.”
Arsenal will enter the Budapest finale as the only undefeated side in this season’s tournament, having chalked up 11 victories and three draws. Arteta’s men will next face West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday, followed by a home fixture against Burnley and a trip to Crystal Palace.
Thierry Henry during Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat to Barcelona(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Three victories would be sufficient for Arsenal to clinch their first Premier League crown in 22 years before they travel to the Hungarian capital. Arteta added: “I’m really going to enjoy it tonight, everybody’s enjoying this moment now. But tomorrow we have to start to prepare for Sunday.
“We have an incredible game against West Ham, a really tough one, and we’re going to have four days to do that. Let’s enjoy the moment but tomorrow let’s start to live in the present.”
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