Every word Mikel Arteta said on Arsenal making history, Atletico Madrid test and Man City clash

Here is every word Mikel Arteta said after Arsenal beat Sporting CP over two legs in the UEFA Champions League to reach their second successive semi-final

Mikel Arteta spoke to the press after Arsenal knocked Sporting CP out of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night. The result meant the Gunners reached the semi-finals in successive seasons for the first time in their history.

They will face Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone, who they put four goals past in the league phase of the competition. Intriguingly, despite Gabriel Magalhaes being on the field, who had captained the side six times with Declan Rice also playing, it was the England midfielder who was given the armband.

Arteta was quizzed on the latest and, of course, how this game sets up the match with Manchester City this weekend. The return of Eberechi Eze was a particularly welcome one, too.

FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE! Latest Gunners news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page

Here is every word Arteta said during the post-match press conference:

You said that you wanted your team to write their own history, and they've done just that. Is that the message that you've just sent to them in the dressing room just now?

My message was gratitude to them, I know the effort, the commitment that they put in. There's a lot of work behind it. We've done something that has never been done in the history of our club in 140 years, so that tells you the difficulty of that. We have to do it as well in a very special way, missing a lot of important players, big credit to that.

I'm especially happy for our supporters because they were right behind the team today. We're going to have two magical nights, one in Madrid and another one here in London against Atletico, so I'm very proud of them.

Can you give us an idea of the physical strain on the players at the moment? It looks like a lot of them are just battling.

Yes, but when I see them track back when we lose the ball, the habits that they have, it's just amazing. That's why I know what they are doing, these players. There is a reason why we are the only English team in the competition, because this league and this schedule takes the hell out of you and it's very difficult to do what we've done.

We are not perfect, we need to improve things, that's for sure, we recognise that. But there's value in what these players have done because they deserve it.

Just on that theme, Noni came off and lived at the end, what is that injury?

I don't know, it was something in his knee, so we had to take him off, so I don't know.

You spoke about the fire before the game, do you feel like you got that fire out of your players?

100 per cent, and especially I saw it in moments of difficulty when we give the ball away in circumstances that are not very much like us. How willing everybody is. Declan yesterday, he was shattered, he had no chance to play today, he wasn't feeling good at all today, he played 94 minutes at the level that he's on. Piero the same, every single player is putting everything through the line to contribute, to give their best, and I really value that from the team.

Do performances matter at this stage? Do you care if you're not at your best?

It does, and you have to be better than the opponent. I think we have many periods in the game that we were there, we didn't score the goal, we didn't finalise the action well enough. We had many other things that are very important to get the result that you need in that time. At this moment, it's all about the way you compete, and when you go on to win titles, that's what's going to define the moment, and we certainly learned that tonight.

At the full-time whistle you had a big sigh of relief because there was a really close chance at the end, when you were shaking hands with the Sporting manager. Do you think that this kind of narrow progression to the semi-final can really help you now heading into Sunday's game?

100 per cent. This is a massive push to win the semi-final of the Champions League. It's extremely tough, and we know what we've done. We deserve it, fully deserve it as well, and we're going to enjoy it because we deserve it.

Declan stepped up as captain. We've noticed that there's been games where Gabriel has worn the armband when Rice was on the field. You've made the decision to give Rice the armband now. What's behind that?

They made the decision. They made the decision because Declan has earned the status, the role, the way he's taken ownership in difficult moments. He's a great leader, he's a top player for us, and I love that the players take that ownership.

If you were on the other side, if you were the Sporting coach, would you consider this outcome fair?

I don't know, I'm the Arsenal manager and I think it's very fair what happened over the last two legs.

I'm sure from the outside it feels quite tense holding on to a one-goal lead, but when your team can go from the 67th minute to that last kick of the ball, not allowing a shot, no touches in the opposition box, I don't think... Do you feel like actually you can trust your team on a one-goal lead? Do you share the tension that maybe...

I do, but I prefer to score the goal, and especially when we have the transition when David throws the ball to Leo to finish that action. The game's a fini and it's over, and we don't even give that chance after the long throw to suffer in the manner that we did with that action. That's something to learn and improve as well.

First, why did you take off Viktor Gyokeres so early in the game? And what did you think of the display? And then there was a moment when the supporters asked for a penalty on Maxi Araujo, with Mosquera. (Translated from Portuguese)

With Viktor, I think the game required something else, another kind of nine-man profile so that he could associate us better, so that he could keep the ball, there was no space to run, and Kai gave us that. He gave us a lot of consistency.

I haven't seen the action, what they've told me is that it wasn't a penalty, but I personally haven't seen it.

How do you feel from here first? I'm okay, thank you. Just an insight into how you feel, because obviously there must be a bit of relief there because this game was probably quite a banana skin given what's happened. So just do you feel that sort of relief?

About what happened?

The previous defeat against Bournemouth and the other results.

I know, but what happens in reality or where we are, I don't know if the context and the reality are very much the sight. I wish that we were doing the Arsenal documentary this season, and you can film the last 48 hours and know everything that has been said, but we are watching the series in July, and then we have to ask ourselves the question, we are watching the movies and say, okay, where does Arsenal place? I think all of us will say they are in the bottom three. So what are we talking about, guys? Please, enjoy where we are as a club. If someone doesn't want to do it, so be it. We are enjoying a lot, and I feel a huge gratitude for what the players are doing and our supporters, so thank you.

You will play Atletico in the group stage of the 4-0 win, but if you can pick aspects of that game for this semi-final, and also, how much do you like Arsenal, or how much do you think it is important that the second game can be played here in the stadium? (Translated from Spanish)

We will pick things up, we picked up a lot of things from last night's game, but the way they compete and play, what Diego has done with that team, is impressive. We are very excited to go back to Madrid in the first game, we are well prepared. The time will come to do that, and I think the tie is very open for both of us. Now we have to win it minute by minute, and we hope it goes our way.