Hector Bellerin believes ‘any trophy is a great trophy’ and hopes Arsenal can continue their run in the Europa League to secure the club’s first continental silverware since 1994.
The Gunners, who’ve not tasted success in Europe since winning the Cup Winners’ Cup under George Graham, will secure a place in tomorrow’s semi-final draw if they defend their 4-1 first-leg advantage over CSKA Moscow this evening. They also know that success in the competition will also represent a backdoor route to next season’s Champion League.
European silverware is far from a foregone conclusion, having already beaten AC Milan in the last leg, equally tough opponents potentially lie ahead. Firm favourites Atletico Madrid lead Sporting Lisbon 2-0 ahead of their game in Lisbon, Lazio travel to Red Bull Salzburg with a 4-2 lead and Marseille are looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit against RB Leipzig.
Reflecting on the journey so far and the challenges ahead, Bellerin told Arsenal.com:
“Beating AC Milan in the last round was a great boost for us because they were one of the teams to beat in the competition.
“We know that if you want to be up there then you need to play against these types of teams so that was a very important home and away win for us and we’re very excited as it’s our first year in the competition. We want to do the best that we can and we know we have chances.
“Any trophy is a great trophy for us. It’s a European trophy, it doesn’t matter if it’s the Champions League or the Europa League. Especially right now with the teams that you have in the Europa League with Atletico Madrid and AC Milan, who we just beat.
“These teams are Champions League teams so for us to win this competition would mean the world, of course.”
Would be great for Arsene to have his first European trophy plus us all to have yet more silverware (and Sp*rs not).
Here’s hoping.
It’s not just the trophy. It’s also a way to get back to CL. More money, more player and sponsor appeal.
At the moment in the season, it would mean salvaging a minimum of pride and another rewarding minimal finish even if we have again failed to achieve higher goals. A CL qualification is crucial for the summer plus if we can catch Chelsea to fifth at least. We have never been a force in europe. A couple of secondary one off cups until Wenger put us on the map with close to 2 decades on the top end of the dining table. europa would be a significant step for the team to build on some self belief that we can… Read more »
Would be nice.
Got to get the final and avoid or beat Athletico first.
That is a very big ask because they are better than us in every position…
Go on Hector. Play a blinder tonight then.
By the way, we just beat AC Milan. Did I mention we beat AC Milan? Oh, well just in case I didn’t then, we did in fact beat AC Milan.
Atletico vs Arsenal would be a grand final and would probably give Europa/UEFA Cup it’s biggest world wide audience ever for a match.
Uefa best get heating them balls then ey.