BUDAPEST, Hungary — Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard has challenged his teammates to “make even more history” by winning the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest after silencing the “outside noise” to end the club’s 22-year wait to win the Premier League this season.
The Gunners go into Saturday’s final against the reigning champions in the Ferenc Puskas Arena as arguably the biggest club never to have won the Champions League.
Arsenal lost against Barcelona in their only previous Champions League final in 2006, but Mikel Arteta’s team now stands on the brink of doing what Arsene Wenger‘s great team failed to do by delivering the European Cup to the club’s trophy room for the first time.
And after ending Arsenal’s lengthy Premier League title drought this season, Norway international Ødegaard said that more history beckons now that the pressure is off Arteta’s team.
Read more:Mikel Arteta didn’t watch Arsenal’s title-winning moment: ‘I went home to BBQ’
“For sure it’s something special that we can achieve what has not been done before,” Ødegaard told reporters in Budapest on Friday. “As you say, it was 22 years since we last won the Premier League and now finally we did it.
“So we want to make even more history and when you get the taste of winning and lifting a trophy, you know how nice it feels, so obviously we want to do it again.
“And yes, it would mean a lot to every one of our supporters. We’re ready to do it and looking forward to the game.
Read more:Barcelona hopeful of signing Julián Álvarez, believe he prefers them to Arsenal, PSG – sources
“Obviously coming from winning the Premier League, which is probably the toughest league to win in the world, gives us a lot of confidence. We know what we are and what we can do.”
After three successive runners-up finishes in the Premier League, plus a Champions League semifinal defeat against PSG and a loss against Manchester City in this season’s Carabao Cup final, Arsenal had been forced to deal with accusations that they couldn’t handle the pressure of winning major honours.
But Ødegaard said that Arteta and his players have now ended that debate by winning the Premier League.
“It was something really, really special [to win the Premier League] and something we were fighting to do for so long,” Ødegaard said. “And of course, with that pressure, with the outside noise of people saying we can’t do it and all that, of course that’s gone.
Read more:Cristiano Ronaldo could play at 2030 World Cup – Roberto Martinez
“For us it doesn’t change a lot other than it’s an amazing feeling and an amazing achievement, but the mindset is still the same.
“We want to come here and win, so I think we just have to take all the positives, all the good feelings, all the good energy and the good experiences.
“We’ve been through a lot as a group and I think everything we’ve been through prepared us well for these last few weeks and again tomorrow. So yeah, we’re ready for it and just looking forward to playing now.
Read more:Netherlands confirm World Cup 2026 squad: Jeremie Frimpong out, Crysencio Summerville picked
“Obviously, we’re playing a good team with a lot of qualities, but we have full belief in ourselves, what we can do and the football that we can play and the results that we can get.
“That’s our main focus — to be us and to focus on what we can do and what we can control.
“It’s a big game, but we’re ready for it and fully believe in the team and everything that we can do on the pitch.”
