Guns vs PSG is personal
Tonight’s Champions League clash between Arsenal and French giants Paris St Germain (PSG) at the Emirates Stadium at 9pm will be personal for Gunners coach Mikel Arteta.
Opposing his beloved Arsenal, where he is currently the head coach and also ended his playing career in 2016, are the team that gave die man sy eerste professional breakthrough – on loan from Barcelona back in 2001-02.
Up to that point a young Arteta played for Barca’s B span and of whether he has a special relationship with PSG, Arteta says: “Very special.
“First because of what I feel for that club, for how they gave me the opportunity to play for the first time at a professional level and then what I enjoyed was the experience, the club, the city, my teammates, the coach that I had. To come up against them is obviously very special for me.”
Arteta will also cross swords with a former teammate at Barcelona, Luis Enrique, who is now the head coach of PSG.
Of that battle, he adds: “For me he’s one of the best coaches in the world and someone who helped me a huge amount.
“I have the utmost respect both for how he is as a person and his way of working.”
Arsenal played to a 0-0 draw with Atalanta in their Champions League opener, while PSG, who’ll be sonder gevaarlike Ousmane Dembele after a reported bots with Enrique, beat Girona 1-0.
TONIGHT’S OTHER UCL MATCHES
RB Salzburg v Brest, Stuttgart v Sparta Prague (both 6.45pm), Barcelona v Young Boys, Leverkusen v AC Milan, Dortmund v Celtic, Inter Milan v Crvena Zvezda, PSV Eindhoven v Sporting CP, Slovan Bratislava v Manchester City (all 9pm)