Martin Odegaard believes Arsenal are better prepared for their Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid after learning from last season.
Martin Odegaard believes Arsenal are stronger and better prepared for their Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid after learning from last season’s disappointment.
Arsenal travel to Spain for the first leg on Wednesday, one year after exiting the competition at the semi-final stage. Mikel Arteta’s side are back in the last four for a second consecutive season and now have another chance to take the final step.
Speaking ahead of the match, Odegaard said Arsenal’s experience from last year has helped shape their approach this time around.
“Of course we want to do something more than last year,” Odegaard said. “Last year we went out in the semi-final and so, yeah, we want to go further this year and show that we’ve improved and learned from it.”
The Arsenal captain was then asked directly whether he believes the team are better than they were last season. His answer was clear.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “I think we’re stronger in different ways. We have some new players in as well. I feel like we’re stronger and I feel like we’ve learned from all those experiences last year, probably even more prepared now for this.”
That sense of progression is central to Arsenal’s position. They are still competing for the Premier League title and have again reached the final stages of Europe’s biggest competition, giving Arteta’s side a chance to turn recent progress into silverware.
Odegaard also made clear that Arsenal cannot allow previous near misses to weigh them down. Asked about past disappointments in the title race and Champions League, he said they remain part of the journey until the team finally wins.
“It’s always going to be there until we win it,” he said. “We need to take all those experiences and lessons and use them in a good way.”
Atletico will provide a different test to the one Arsenal faced in last season’s semi-final. Diego Simeone’s side are experienced, physical and difficult to manage at home, and Odegaard was clear that Arsenal are expecting a serious challenge.
“It’s a great team, it’s a strong team, very competitive,” he said. “It’s a really strong team in a great stadium with their fans, they’re strong at home, so it’s going to be a great battle.”
For Arsenal, the first leg offers the chance to show that last season’s lessons have been absorbed. Odegaard’s message was that the team are not just back at this stage. They believe they are better equipped to handle it.