‘Impossible for anyone to have more hunger than us’ – Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta declared that it is “impossible” for any team to have more hunger than his Arsenal group do, ahead of their Champions League quarter-final with Real Madrid.

The Gunners host the reigning champions in the first leg on Tuesday night at the Emirates Stadium.

It is the second year running that Arsenal have reached the quarter-final stage of the competition having last year lost out to Bayern Munich.

Reflecting on how much Arsenal have progressed since he first took over at the club, Arteta said: “We were very far from qualifying for the Champions league even.

“We could forget about playing in the quarter-finals.

“But that’s credit to the club, how they’ve made a lot of good decisions and a lot of people have been involved in dragging that as fast as we possibly could to be in this state.

“Everyone is still very unsatisfied because we want much more.”

Arteta spoke of his excitement ahead of facing the Spanish giants, saying “this is why I came into management and especially to this football club”.

And expanding on his anticipation, Arteta said: “I love to compete against the best, I love to be challenged against the best and we are in the competition that has something very, very special.

“We don’t have any history of winning it as well as a football club so the hunger and the desire, nobody can have more hunger and desire than us. It’s impossible.

“My team has given me the reason to believe in them and a lot of arguments to think that we can beat any opposition.

“Now you have to do it, when the context changes, whether it’s home or away, to deliver. That’s what we have to do. Not talk too much about it, have that belief, and have that confidence individually and collectively that we are more than prepared to do it. Then it’s about doing it.”