It is Mikel Arteta Amatriain (San Sebastián, 1982), and he celebrates MARCA — along with two other media — into his office at Arsenal Education center. We have known each other for over 22 years and I have never seen him so happy and proud of what he has done this season, after winning the Premier League and reaching the Champions League final on Saturday.
A question. You come from winning the Premier League. Why did it happen this year and not in others [Arsenal were runners-up in the previous three tournaments]?
Answer. Because someone up there aligned the planets to make it so. The other years we were close but something was missing. The feelings have been different since the beginning, maybe the type of players… but the consistency has been similar. I was convinced that we would be very close. Not to win, because it depends on many things. My job has been to convince them to feel like the best, because there were moments of doubt. I gave them energy and told them to enjoy themselves like never before.
Q. Why weren’t you with the players at the title celebration?
R. I found them more comfortable without my presence. I trained as usual that day and with an hour to go before Bournemouth-City I felt strange, with a different kind of energy. I went upstairs and all the players and staff were there watching the game together. And I thought this was their moment. I told them I was going home and I didn’t pick up the phone or watch the game. My children were in front of the TV and I went to barbecue in the garden. Gabi [Heinze] was with me. I heard noises from the neighbors, but I continued to do my own thing. Then, when the City game ended, my eldest son, Gabriel, came, opened the door and said to me in tears: “Dad, we are Premier League champions.” We hugged as a whole family… and that’s how I experienced it. It gives me goosebumps to see how people experienced this. That a ball can connect so many people with these feelings is amazing. I tell my players that all the time. It doesn’t matter your culture, your ideas, your religion… the ball works magic.
Q. They’ve gotten rid of the “losing team” label. How important is that to this final?
R. There is one part of joy and another of lifting the weight off, relief. Saying, “We’ve already got this”. and we must now use it like a tidal wave of emotion, excitement and hunger to win the Champions League.
Q. What has been the most beautiful thing about what has already been achieved?
“A. The journey. We’ve done this with people who are worth it. Sometimes I’ve felt vulnerable and asked myself if I was capable of doing this. ‘Am I the right person to lead this?’. And you haven’t answered until you’ve done it. We’ve done it together.”
I can’t accept; my job is to look for other formulas to work
Q. Let’s move on to the Champions League. Since you won Atlético, above all, you have been accused of being very defensive. How do you take that criticism?
R. I respect all opinions and then you have to decide where to place them: give them importance, throw them away, leave them in memory, burn them, use them and make them useful to you… There is a place for everything. My job is that if one thing isn’t enough for us to work, I can’t settle. My task is to look for other formulas to win, to innovate, to look for other ways that differ from the previous ones. And that’s what we’ve been doing all along.
Q. Did you look for formulas to counter what you knew your opponents were going to throw at you, sitting very deep in a low block?
Q. With the injuries we’ve had, there’s a moment for everything. If I put that injury into a machine and asked it the odds of winning the Premier League, it would have given me 2%. And I wasn’t going to accept that. We have had to look for other things, with our resources and features, to be as competitive in the 60 games we have played, with the demand required.
Q. The other day Luis Enrique referred to you as “Little Mikel”. You were teammates at Barça: you, very young, and he already a more mature player. What can you tell me about your class rival?
R. [Laughter] I remember him fondly because of the way he was with the young players and the way he was as a player. As a coach, he’s the one who has shown the leadership to go in one direction and, with all the noise against him, stay that way and end up winning the way he has. He is a role model for everyone.
If I put all the injuries we’ve had into a machine and ask it the odds of winning the Premier League, it would have given me 2%.
P. Zubimendi has been one of his most used players, but he has come to this final after almost four games in a row as a substitute. What has happened to him?
R. I can give you a thousand examples of players who, in their first year in the Premier League, have not been at the same level as ‘Zubi’s’ glorious campaign has been. But it is also true that he has played a lot of games that he had never played before and that has put him in a difficult position at some point. For me, it’s been a tough decision, but I think there was a teammate who was better suited depending on the type of game. We have given ‘Zubi’ some relief, some oxygen, for these finals.
Q. Have you sacrificed a lot on a personal level to get here?
A. I have tried to make up for it in the best possible way, but it is always very expensive. But I’ll tell you this: if there’s one person who deserves her place in all this success more than anyone else, it’s my wife Lorena [Mikel becomes emotional]. What she has done for me and my children is beyond words because I am, literally, not there. And when I’m there physically, sometimes I’m not there mentally. She has been the one who has been able to bring balance to our home.
Q. The World Cup is coming and Arsenal will have four players in La Roja. What do you expect?
R. I am extremely proud that they are in Luis de la Fuente’s squad, but what I am most proud of is that, regardless of what role Luis assigns them, I am one hundred percent convinced that, in whatever situation the coach needs, they will respond well… because they are a gem.