After Arsenal’s fine 3-0 win against Olympiacos, Olivier Giroud and Per Mertesacker chatted to BT Sport about progressing to the knockout stages against the odds.
On the win…
OG: It’s fantastic for me and the team. We are really pleased to go through tonight. We missed the chance three years ago, two years and even last year against Monaco [to go much further in the Champions League]. We were close all the time so it’s nice to go through the group stage. We were not in a good position but finally we’ve done it and we’re very pleased with that for our fans and the club. We feel relieved tonight.
PM: It was a last-gasp go-through for us tonight, we’d describe it like that. We took our chance and we took it seriously tonight. We deserved it, we defended together and played good football up front and had Olivier who executed well tonight.
On securing qualification against the odds…
OG: In the Champions League it’s one level up and we needed to be focused, as Per said, as a unit. We needed to be together, have good cohesion, to defend well and to finish well. It’s nice for us. It was not so easy tonight in this stadium with this atmosphere. We’re really pleased to have done it and can focus now on the Premier League where we want to continue our momentum.
On thinking Arsenal were out after their defeat in Munich…
PM: No, I didn’t [say we were out]. I said when we have a chance we will go for it. And that’s what we did. I didn’t lie at all and I’m very pleased that we finally went through. In the end we deserved it. We stayed patient and together as a strong unit. As I said, that was really a last-gasp thing tonight.
On going further in the competition…
OG: We want to go as far as we can. The target is to reach at least the quarter-final. Personally, it’s the fourth year I’m here and I’ve never played a quarter-final so hopefully yes [that will happen]. We’ll see the draw [on Monday], have a good rest and then open a new page of the Champions League in February.
I fancy us agsinst anyone be could draw. Speed and pace and girouds finishing. Always said Campbell would come good! 🙂
We all secretly believed in Campbell…
I did not and I’m happy to say he’s proven me wrong. The boy’s got a better touch than I gave him credit for.
Kinda starting to see why Dick Law spent all summer chasing him back in 2011. He wasn’t completely insane after all.
I second your comment, didn’t think he had it in him but since he’s been given a run of games he’s been very good. For me he has moved ahead of Ox in the pecking order for now as he’s shown great dribbling, finishing and not to mention the two assists he has so far, passes Mr Mesut would be proud of
the teams we could get includes Barca, Real Madrid, Athelico. Not that easy.
No worries.
We aren’t exactly known for doing things the easy way are we??
That’s the small regret this evening if Chelsea had finished 2 or 3, it would have meant lesser probability of one of these teams. Also we could have laughed more at Chelsea.
Well will wait for the weekend to laugh at them hopefully!
Same thing with City winning their group. If they and Chel$ki had finished second, or not qualified, then Juventus and Porto would have been possible opponents as well, lowering the odds of Real or Barcelona even further.
Even though Ronaldo can do damages to any team at any time in a game, bring on Real Madrid or Atletico. Giroud can do damages to any team when required.
Bring on zenit..bring on Wolfsburg..bring on athletico..heck! bring on Real Madrid as well..under that blundercunt Benitez I reckon we could take them on and win..barca are the only ones I’m scared off..and in typical arsenal fashion I have a bad feeling it’s them we’re going to draw..
the teams we could get includes Barca, Real Madrid, Atlelico. Not that easy.
Well said Lads, well said!
You can say that again G “open a bloody new page in the champions league”
All hail world class Olivier Girooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud……..
its about time the guy gets the respect he deserves…..
I love you Giroud!!
Per – rubbish. Too slow never mind he is already there. Giroud not world class. Will never get into double figures at this rate never mind 13 goals this season so far. Flamini – Its always his fault. If we concede its all because of him. When we don’t its not because of him. Never mind him hitting the post, was he discipline enough? 7amkickoff can provide plenty of nebulous stats to prove he isn’t. Campbell – Not Arsenal quality. Get out while you can. Never mind most people were already wrong about Coquelin and Bellerin coming into the squad,… Read more »
You forgot the shirt…
Europa doesn’t want us. Too class for that. Europa has affinity for Untd and sp*rs…
Good riddance November!
Der Ent never lies.
Am I the only one that thinks we could win the thing with a nearly full strength squad coming back ? I love supporting Arsenal….for 45 years and counting!
COYG!
Anyone who makes it to the last 16 can win it. Chelsea proved that conclusively. 😀
You started the same year I did! Do you remember the exact date? For me it was January 7, 1971. I was 10 and I’d jumped on the Yeovil bandwagon, and when Arsenal knocked them out of the FA Cup my Dad said “Why don’t you follow this Arsenal team and hope they win the Cup, so you can say it took the champions to knock your team out?” And history was made.
I thought we would have a chance last year tbh.
We were the form team in Europe in early 2015, then Monaco happened….
Time to make amends!
COYG
“…and then open a new page of the Champions League…” read and then open a new champagne of the league. I’m excited!!
A gunner from faraway Malaysia is also releived afterall a team capable of beating Bayern deserves atleast a place in the last 16
In terms of the draw, if we get a big team, we know we’ll be up for it (taking it very seriously).
Hopefully, almost fucking up this group will stick in our minds to not take any ‘smaller’ teams complacently.
Love how Per isn’t letting the media put words in his mouth! Well done all round lads!
Why anyone would want to play Europa league baffles me. Talk about loser mentality. If these people were in charge, we would never retain the FA cup two years straight because the slightest sign of problem (like start of last season) they would throw their hands up, not fight for anything and consider the season done. I’m glad such people are not in charge. We fight on and go as far as we can. Nothing is decided and on our day we can beat anyone. This is the knock out stage and we can stage surprises. Why be so negative… Read more »
Considering that we were rather unlikely to top any group with FC Bayern in it, we’ve actually not done any worse than expectation.
Great job to pull it out of the hat
The treble is on!
Well said by our BFG’s. Big fucking gooners.
Eat your words Roy Keane, and whilst you’re eating them, choke please.
I am not gay, but Giroud looks really really attractive right now ?
Well done lads. Brilliant.
how did they fit those two into one of those tiny little interview rooms?!
It’s funny, it takes a REALLY tall guy to make Giroud look short.
If Arsenal want to win the cl they must be prepared for the likes of RM/Barcelona/BM and other top teams.At this stage of the competition,all teams have to be respected. There is no such thing as an easy game as in the S L and GL.It would be interesting to see how the 3 teams mentioned will fare in the EPL.One thing you can bet is they wont be able thrash teams by 5/6/7 goal margins regularly witht he top marksmen scoring 4/5/6 goals.. I don’t know why Gabriel wasn’t featured.The bg maybe the captain but mobility is aliability with… Read more »
For those of us who saw the interview live, it was hysterical watching Per trying not to crack a huge grin every time they were talking to Olivier. It was so clear how happy they were, while trying to remain professional in front of the cameras. I, on the other hand, was grinning, laughing, whooping and hollering at every goal.
“I’m just going to chew my lip, no one is going to notice I’m grinning like a fool.”
Why would Giroud lie earlier about us giving it a 100%? By my reckoning that was at least a 120% effort! Let’s hope the clueless UEFA don’t banish him for “unsportsmanlike” statements. But seriously, what has Joel been smoking? With him in mind, I honestly look forward to Sanogo also fulfilling Wenger’s expectations. COYG!!!
Great result and I believe that was Girouds first hattrick for the club? Congratz to him on that. He may suffer from some inconsistency issues, But when he performs to the best of his ability he is a proper beast.
Great game overall, looking forward to the rest of our adventures in the Champions League, may we go far 🙂
When is the draw for next round?
Come on Gunners!
Monday, 11:00 am British Time.
Worth waking up in the wee hours in Hong Kong for, that. Thanks lads, fantastic performance.
It was indeed a pleasure staying up till 3.30am in India. Enjoying the great feeling. Now the KO games. With a full team we are match for any club. Bring them on. COYG!
The opponents we could be drawn against are:
Real Madrid,
Barcelona,
Atletico Madrid,
Wolfsburg and
Zenit
Each opponent has a 20% chance of being drawn against Arsenal according to the little program I wrote. I’d take Wolfsburg, but Zenit is fine, too.
It’s going to be Barca, we all know it. It’s like a rule of the universe by this point.
The same Barca that could only draw against Bayer Leverkusen and Valencia in the last few days.
If all goes well we’ll have quite a few players back by mid February. So, there’s no telling what’s going to happen next.
What is important is that Roy Keane is still a dickhead and ManU have to suffer Thursday night football for the foreseeable future.
As for our next opponents … don’t count out the return of TGSTEL.
I would SO love for that to happen. Come on Wolfsburg!
I would prefer Real out of all of them. If we draw one of the so called lesser teams, I think we mentally get complacent as was the case against Monaco last year. So that rules Zenit and Wolfsburg out. Athletico is very tough opposition and they can really hurt teams and they have a strong defensive unit. Barca, Messi, enough said. That leaves Real who are weaker defensively by tradition and they seem weaker this season plus because we tend to turn up against the bigger teams.
Weaker? So much weaker, indeed, that one single player of theirs outscored 21 of the 32 teams in the Champions League groups.
I think we’ll take whoever we get in the draw next Monday.
Imagine how motivated Alexis will be if we draw Barca? or Özil againt Real?
Bring ’em on, I say. COYG!
I watched the game highlights are on 414 bt sport europe, and that was a good goal streak from giroud another clean sheet and pressure for arsenal fc fans and teams throughout the game coyg the win was also for alexis and santi plus wenger 100% coyg.