Mikel Arteta has revealed he didn’t watch the Bournemouth-Manchester City draw that clinched Arsenal‘s Premier League title — because he was barbecuing outside at home.
Arteta, speaking publicly for the first time since Arsenal were guaranteed of this season’s title, also admitted the “relief” of proving his doubters wrong before laying down the gauntlet to the club’s rivals by declaring: “Now we want more.”
Arsenal sealed a first league title in 22 years on Tuesday thanks to Bournemouth’s 1-1 tie with Pep Guardiola’s side, but while the first-team players and most members of staff watched the game and celebrated at the London Colney training ground, Arteta was nowhere to be seen until a party in London later that evening.
Speaking in his first news conference since that night on Thursday, Arteta outlined his evening, and the humorous reason why he wasn’t with his players.
“It’s one of the best feelings that I’ve ever had,” Arteta said.
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“I was supposed to be here at Colney, watching the game with the boys … but I couldn’t. Before the game, I had to leave, I couldn’t bring the energy that I wanted and that was their moment as well, to watch it together, to be themselves and just see what the outcome would be.
“I went home, I went outside to the garden, I started to build some fire and start to do some BBQ, I didn’t watch any of it. I was just hearing some noises in the background in the living room and then suddenly the magic happened.
“My eldest son opened the garden door, started to run towards me, started to cry, gave me a hug and said ‘we are champions, Daddy.’ Then my other two boys and my wife came over, and it was beautiful. You could feel the adrenaline from them as well.
“About a minute later, Martin [Ødegaard] was with the video, where are you, come over. I said guys, enjoy it for a while and see you in a few hours somewhere in London. It was beautiful.”
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Arsenal’s players shared wild scenes of celebration on social media — some involving sporting director Andrea Berta — but Arteta said he had no regrets about missing out.
“It was their moment,” he said. “They had to be themselves. If I’m there, I don’t think it would have been the same. I’m glad they did it. I think they enjoyed it. We had our moment together a few hours later.”
Arteta also confirmed that he had spoken to Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola since the result, admitting that he once feared that the Cherries had cost Arsenal the title in April when they beat the hosts 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium.
“I didn’t message him, I rang him,” he added. “I called him yesterday, firstly to congratulate him on the incredible job he has done with Bournemouth. I told him he almost took the Premier League away from us and then helped us to win it on the last week!
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“I rang him to show my admiration towards him and wish him the best in the next chapter of his career, which I’m sure is going to be very successful.”
The Spaniard, whose side face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final a week on Saturday, admitted he had doubted along the way whether he was the right man to deliver the title.
He continued: “There is a lot of emotion, joy, happiness, being proud. And as well, relief.
“But I’m most proud of how we won it. We showed a very important value, not only in sport, but in life which is perseverance, to be resilient, to be composed in moments when people are doubting you, to be vulnerable because I’ve asked that question to myself: ‘Am I good enough to lead this team, this club, these players to win a major trophy?’
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“And until you do it, you cannot validate yourself. And I thought about the best way to do it. We brought people in from outside and speakers to inspire them. But you have to find your own way.
“The big lesson here is to stay humble, stay curious and focus on what you want to achieve. And if you give your very best, you give yourself a good chance, and we gave ourselves a very good chance for three years and this season we’ve done it.
“Of course, the thing now is you want more, and we have the biggest one to play in Budapest in a few days.”
Arsenal, runners-up in the league for the previous three seasons, had faced accusations of “bottling” their trophy bid after they surrendered the league summit in the wake of a 2-1 defeat at Manchester City on April 19.
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However, they bounced back by winning their next four without conceding, and Arteta continued: “In our job, you have to respect every opinion. The difficulty is to place those opinions in the place that they belong.
“Some of them can be extremely useful and they can help you to be better, or open your eyes to something that maybe you don’t have the capacity to look at.
“But others can be just damaging and that is the only purpose. You have to keep them away from you otherwise it’s going to affect you in a way that you’re going to transmit it to the team, and that cannot happen as a manager.”
Information from PA was used in this report.
