Every word Mikel Arteta said on Atletico Madrid, Gyokeres, Lewis-Skelly and ultimate goal

Mikel Arteta faced the media following the trouncing of La Liga giants Atletico Madrid. Diego Simeone stood on the sidelines, stunned at the demolition job the Spaniard’s team unloaded on them.

Viktor Gyokeres was naturally the hot topic of conversation in the press room, wondering whether this could be a moment where the floodgates open for him. There were plenty of impressive performances but Martin Zubimendi stood out too.

It would be fair to say Arteta was a happy man and passionate to talk about his side’s big win.

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Here is every word from the press conference as Arteta faced the media:

After getting to the semi-finals last season, what could a result do for the self-belief in the team that you can go one better or two better?

Well, obviously, I'm extremely happy and proud about the performance and the results against a really good side. I was very impressed when I analysed them and what I've seen today about them as well. I knew about the difficulty of it. It required a lot of aggression and a lot of patience as well.

The way they managed the context of the game and the way they can manipulate their behaviour was really impressive. With 0-0 at half-time, even though we generated two, three big chances, we had to stay patient, but at the same time, increase a little bit certain areas to damage them more.

We saw the smile on Viktor's face after those two goals. How much have you had to reassure him over this very small run where he hasn't scored that it's going to come?

Well, I think he deserved it because everything that we were seeing in terms of what he was bringing to the team and how much he was helping the team in many areas, apart from scoring goals in the last few weeks, there was no debate about that. It was about keeping that belief in himself, that emotional state that he can enjoy and play freely. Again, it was one of those two goals, and as you said, a big smile on his face.

I look at his teammates as well, in the picture and the video, they are all so happy for him because he fully deserved it.

Just to follow on from that, you mentioned it there. You could see the players pushing Viktor forward to take the celebration. Does that show just how much they have appreciated the work that you did on him during the game when he didn't score?

All of us, because he makes us a much better team. I think we've become much more unpredictable. He's so physical, open, his face is for everybody. The way he presses the ball, holds the ball, that's phenomenal.

And then there's a piece of cake and the biggest thing that we're going to debate about him is goals. He's scored two very different ones today, and hopefully he starts to get some momentum and a good run of goals.

You made two changes to that team and they combined for a goal and both played pretty well. We say it's a good headache to have this many selection problems, but it must be quite a headache.

Very good. I think Myles and Gabs were superb. The impact, the team, the results, they were great from the beginning. And the boys, they come again and we use them in different ways again. I think we need to try to keep them all involved, believe that they have a chance to play.

And if they play at that level, it's a joy because it's going to elevate our daily training sessions. That will mean the standard will be higher and we will compete better, for sure.

Can I ask you about Myles? He's had to be very patient for his opportunity and he starts now and I thought he was excellent. What were your thoughts on his performance?

Depending on how you look at it. If you look at it from what he’s done from December last year to now, at his age, at this level, he's incredible. But I said it before, he's been really focused, really humble and really good.

And when that happens and you have to play after, you are ready and I thought he was really good today.

The competition for places, how does it manifest itself around the place, in the dressing room? It seems to be pushing everyone to find an extra level. Are you feeling that?

This is what we need and when you look at the top teams in Europe, that's what they have and we have to manage that in a really cohesive system. When everybody understands that they are going to have different roles throughout the game or in different games. But at the end the outcome is to earn the right to win games and to win games.

That's the ultimate goal and we are seeking for the same thing.

Mikel, a very eventful second half. They say a fright is good for the heart. I suppose Julian Alvarez, a moment of brilliance in the second half, but your reaction to that was phenomenal. You actually went up a few levels. You must be so proud of your players' reaction to that.

Yeah, you can say anything. Every time that the front line was running with a bit of space and time in and around the box, they have this quality. They win a lot of games like that with individual actions and they believe in that.

They hit the crossbar, nearly score and after that we score and apart from there it helped us to win the game.

As you're aware there's obviously been criticism of Arsenal this year for not being expansive enough in the big matches. So do you think four goals against a team like Atletico Madrid provides a pretty strong response to those suggestions?

Yeah, but this is more about the results at the end. The way we prepare the matches is always to try to hurt the opponents as much as possible, as frequently as possible. According to the players we believe they have the best capacity and qualities to do it from the beginning.

And then this is football, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Today we were extremely efficient with the team's competition and we're really happy.

You seem to start this competition really, really strongly. From the previous two seasons, what do you think are the main takeaways in the Champions League that you've already been able to translate to this season? Because not only was it the defence, also the goals occurred in two different ways.

Well, I think maturity experience and the fact that probably we have more games in the competition with the league because we have some very successful matches, especially here at home.

And that we have to create. And when we played those games here, I think the energy during the day was amazing. And so that's really helpful.