Ahead of their game this evening against Dinamo Zagreb, Arsenal defender Gabriel Paulista has reflected on his side’s performance against Zagreb earlier this season in the UEFA Champions League.
The Gunners are currently bottom of their Champions League group, but Gabriel remains confident that his team can still progress to the next round of the competition.
I think we learned a lot [from the game in Zagreb], we showed that we were the better team but that’s football.
They knew how to take advantage of our mistakes and got what they wanted out of the game. We’ve had time to reflect on what we did well and what we didn’t. We got more things wrong than right, so in the next game we need to try to improve in order to achieve our objective.
The Brazilian also believes that playing at home will benefit the Gunners because they will have the full support of the Arsenal faithful, which will undoubtedly spur them on.
The fact that this game is at home in front of our fans is very important. Our fans have always cheered us on and helped us and you feel more motivated playing in a stadium like the Emirates. For me in particular, I feel very motivated.
The Gunners’ chances of progressing into the round of 16 are unlikely but the 24-year-old argues that as long as his side knuckles down and focuses on winning their remaining two games, there is still the distinct possibility of progressing.
We could still qualify from our group in the Champions League, so I’m not thinking about the Europa League. I think that we need to focus on winning these next two decisive games and what happens with the other results determines whether we will qualify or not.
Arsene Wenger’s men have struggled so far in this year’s UEFA Champions League, having lost three of their four fixtures and are clinging on to their hopes of progressing. However, their future in the competition relies on Bayern Munich helping them out with a win against Olympiacos and then praying that if they can beat the Croatians tonight, they must beat the Greeks in their next fixture.
