Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta ready for reunion with Paris Saint-Germain | Arsenal

Mfun fact Arteta: when the Arsenal manager was a young player at Paris Saint-Germain, his roommate during hotel stays was Ronaldinho. And it’s certainly fun to imagine how that went, given Ronaldinho’s well-deserved reputation as the party prince. Did they have the same bedtimes? “For me he was always perfect,” says Arteta with a smile.

Sadly, Arteta wasn’t asked to describe his top five nights out with the Brazilian. But as Arsenal prepared to host PSG in Tuesday’s glamorous Champions League tie, Arteta’s eyes lit up as he recalled the period that made his career; the people and the places, the exciting sense of possibility. Last week he had spent much of his press conference dealing with the fallout from the fiery 2-2 draw against Manchester City. The atmosphere here was only positive.

There were numerous moments when Arteta seemed a little incredulous at what he had experienced at PSG, as if he was still struggling to come to terms with it. When he joined from Barcelona B on an 18-month loan as an 18-year-old in January 2001, his first start for the club, his first as a professional, was a 1-1 Champions League draw against Milan at San Siro. . “I was in the tunnel, I looked… it was Berlusconi, Maldini, Shevchenko…” he says. “I thought, ‘Really?’ I was thrown to the lions.”

Areta’s path to Barcelona’s first team was blocked by a host of stars, including Luis Enrique, now the PSG manager. The move to Paris came about quickly and was terrifying. “For me, for my family,” says Arteta. “We were in Barcelona when we got the call: ‘You have to pack your bags and fly to Paris. Now.’ You look at those names (at PSG and think): ‘Are you sure?’

What names are called. “Unbelievable,” says Arteta. “We had Ronaldinho, Okocha, Anelka, Pochettino, Heinze. “I wanted to stay there (after the loan) but I was owned by Barcelona and they couldn’t find a deal.”

Arteta joined struggling PSG. The club had just changed managers and brought back Luis Fernández for a second spell, and they lost as many games as they won. “But you get there and Luis Fernández was the one who believed in me,” says Arteta. “That’s what you need: someone who gives you a chance. I will always be grateful to him. The other sources of inspiration were Pochettino and Heinze. They were by my side all the time and guided me in everything I needed to do in my professional life.

“It is an experience that will stay with me forever, it shaped who I wanted to be as a player and it inspired me to become a manager. They protected me like a son. It was the perfect environment.”

Ronaldinho only arrived from Grêmio in July 2001. Arteta says he transformed PSG before joining Barcelona in 2003 to do the same. “I had to do all the defending because I had Ronaldinho and Okocha in front of me,” Arteta said. “Imagine! It was amazing, almost surreal… a dream for me. I was so blessed and I had so much energy at that moment. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

“Ronaldinho is the only player I have seen in history who could single-handedly transform two clubs. He had an aura, an energy, a smile on his face… it was impossible to be next to him and in a bad And then I’ve never seen such a talent. During the training, during every exercise, it was: ‘How is this possible?’ Physically it is impossible to do certain things.”

Arteta has never dealt with PSG as a player or manager. He knows what to expect because he knows Luis Enrique. “I am a great admirer of him,” says Arteta. “He has enormous charisma, enormous energy. He was always a great support for the young players (at Barcelona) and what I like about him is that wherever he has been as a player or as a manager, his fingerprints are everywhere.

“You can see at PSG that it is his team. They have a clear intention on how they want to dominate the ball and if they don’t have it, they want it back straight away. They are very aggressive and confront you. But that’s Luis. Wherever he plays, against any opponent and in any context, that’s how he does it.”

Arteta is expected to be without Ben White. The defender missed Arsenal’s last two games with a groin injury and did not train on Monday afternoon. Riccardo Calafiori was ’emotional’ after Saturday’s 4-2 home win against Leicester when he felt a muscle problem. He did participate in training.