Arsenal is on the verge of a historic season by following a model similar to the one Manchester City used to win the treble in 2023. It’s often said that “the end justifies the means,” and that has been Mikel Arteta’s guiding principle in leading Arsenal to a Champions League final for the first time in two decades, where they will face compatriot Luis Enrique’s PSG. This is only the second final in the club’s 140-year history, and the Gunners are poised to make this a landmark campaign. However, they are achieving it by walking the same path that their “mentor” Guardiola once paved, and Arteta is again battling his former boss for the Premier League title, with Arsenal now back in control of their own destiny.
“It was hard to imagine because when I arrived, we were barely even in Europe, and we hadn’t competed in the Champions League for seven years. It’s a huge leap. But everything has gradually fallen into place,” Arteta said in a press conference after securing qualification by eliminating Atletico Madrid along the way. His honest response reflects the journey Arsenal has undertaken to become one of England’s top teams and then a European powerhouse again. Arteta inherited a club without direction following Arsene Wenger’s 22-year tenure, which had transformed the club.
During this process, Arteta had to rebuild every aspect of the club to restore a culture worthy of its badge. “The owners believed in what we wanted to do, gave us tremendous support, and we had to make the right choices in the people we brought in, both staff and players, to start building something gradually,” he explained. It has been a slow process: regaining competitiveness in the Premier League, returning to Europe, and then to the Champions League—essentially learning to walk before running. In the 2023-24 season, they reached the quarterfinals; last season, the semifinals; and this season, the final. Along the way, Arsenal has led the Premier League for 68 matchdays across Arteta’s six full seasons at the helm. He is also the fourth manager with the best average points per game (2.16) in Champions League history.
The foundations were solid, and there was never a sense of stagnation. But the urgency to validate this growth with trophies has grown exponentially. Arsenal, remember, is the Big Six club that has gone the longest without silverware—over 2,000 days since the FA Cup they surprisingly won in 2020 when Arteta had only been at the club for a few months. “It’s very hard for anyone when you’re so close and it’s taken away from you. I feel in tune with Simeone because I know what it’s like to be on the other side,” Arteta confessed. Lately, he has accepted that playing “well” or “beautifully” doesn’t always guarantee victory. He saw this firsthand during the two and a half seasons he served as Pep’s assistant at the most aesthetically pleasing Manchester City side.
Guardiola himself had to convince himself of this to win the treble in 2023, adopting a more pragmatic and conservative approach that ultimately paid off. “Doing always the same thing… you don’t always get what you want,” Arteta added, echoing his mentor’s lesson.
