Arteta praises Arsenal’s maturity after beating ‘one of the best teams in the world’ | Arsenal

Mikel Arteta hailed Arsenal’s growing maturity after their clinical win over Paris Saint-Germain kicked off their Champions League campaign.

A first-half header from Kai Havertz and a free-kick from stand-in captain, Bukayo Saka, put Arsenal on course to victory against the French champions as summer signing Mikel Merino made his debut after recovering from a shoulder injury .

The only negative for Arteta was an injury to Jurriën Timber, which forced the Dutch defender to be substituted at half-time, with the Arsenal manager confirming that he had “felt something muscular”.

But another superb defensive display against a PSG side who had scored in their last 51 matches in the Champions League group stage saw Arsenal set a record of not conceding a goal in this competition after a 0-0 draw in the opening match at Atalanta.

“We feel very lucky because we certainly played against one of the best teams in the world,” Arteta said. “These games in European competitions are very different to the Premier League and we have shown a lot of maturity. We are putting our stamp on the way we want to behave against top teams in Europe and I really like that.”

The win moved Arsenal into the top eight of the emerging Champions League after they reached the quarter-finals last season for the first time since 2010, where they were knocked out by Bayern Munich. Saka’s goal was the fourth in Arsenal’s last six games to be scored from a set-piece after crucial strikes against Tottenham, Manchester City and Leicester.

Although there was an element of fortune to the latter after a mistake by PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, Arteta paid tribute to the resilience of his players in the second half. “We suffered much more than we should have,” he said. “The Champions League brings different demands, but I think we handled it very well.”

Havertz expressed his delight after becoming the first Arsenal player since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2019 to score in six consecutive home games. “I love the stadium, I’m so grateful to be able to play here and be part of the team,” he said. “I used to not be a player who liked (aerial) duels, but now I just love it. When we beat teams like these it gives us a big boost. Last year it was difficult to play against Bayern, but we have grown as a team.”

Luis Enrique, the PSG manager, described Arsenal as “one of the best teams in the world”, adding: “We knew from the first minute that they would put pressure on us and we couldn’t overcome that. But if you lose every game, you are far from victory.”