Pep Guardiola held private conversation with Mikel Arteta ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League win over Real Madrid | OneFootball

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revealed he had a private conversation with Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola prior to his side’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid on Tuesday night.

The North London side put on a performance that will no doubt live long in the memory of their supporters this week as they placed one foot into the last-four of this season’s UEFA Champions League with a dominant victory over one of the competition’s strongest forces.

Two astonishing free-kick strikes from midfielder Declan Rice put Arsenal into a strong lead in the second-half, before Mikel Merino would add to the scoring with a fine, first-time, left-footed effort to wrap up the evening.

The victory gives Arsenal a significant lead heading into next week’s second-leg clash with Real Madrid in the last-eight of the competition, however onlookers will only have to look back at some of Los Blancos’ recent results in the tournament to admit that the tie is not over.

One man who knows that more than many is Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, having been on the receiving end of some remarkable comeback efforts from Real Madrid in recent times to end his own Champions League hopes in various campaigns.

Speaking during his post-match press conference on Tuesday night, Mikel Arteta was asked whether he would look for any advice from his aforementioned former colleague and close friend ahead of the quarter-final second-leg meeting at the Santiago Bernabeu next week.

“He’s had a lot of situations like that, professionally and personally,” Arteta pointed out. “We talked coming into this (the first-leg), I wanted to talk to him,” the Spanish coach continued to the media.

“And he’s someone who admires the good things we’ve done and it’s important to learn from the best, to learn from people who have that experience.

“He’s a very intelligent person and I’ve had the good fortune to work with someone like that who has been able to help me much.”

For Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, their campaign in this season’s Champions League ended prior to the knockout stages of the competition and at the hands of Real Madrid in a last-16 play-off tie.

Having led the first-leg of the affair, City conceded twice in quick succession to head to the Spanish capital trailing 2-1, only for Kylian Mbappe to hit a hat-trick in Madrid and end the club’s hopes of any sort of comeback of their own.

Manchester City have their work cut out to get back into Europe’s premier competition for next season, currently sitting sixth in the Premier League table with fifth position enough to qualify thanks to England’s coefficient rankings earning them an extra spot in the tournament.