Interview: Champions league frustrates Gilberto
September 14th, 2005
Arsenal midfielder Gilberto has revealed the painful sight of Liverpool lifting the Champions League trophy is spurring him on to bring long overdue European success to Highbury.
The Gunners begin their Champions League campaign at home to Swiss minnows Thun tonight, having lost Patrick Vieira and Edu since last season, while Thierry Henry is out injured and Jens Lehmann is suspended.
Indeed, while Sol Campbell could make his first start of the season tonight, Henry could be out for up to six weeks with a groin injury that is worse than first diagnosed.
That could rule him out of five Premiership games and the first three Champions League group ties as Arsenal, who have failed to make it past the quarter-finals of the competition, look to finally make the breakthrough in Europe.
Having gone out at the last-16 stage last season, they could only watch as Liverpool, who finished 25 points behind them in the Premiership, went on to lift the trophy.
Gilberto recalled: “I felt very frustrated, not because it was Liverpool – it could have been any team – but because you don’t like to see those pictures. You feel upset as you should have been there instead.
“I am surprised that we haven’t done better in the Champions League because the quality of the team is fantastic. We want to do much better than we have done and this is another chance.”
The Brazil international acknowledged Arsenal had endured a troubled start to this campaign, with two league defeats on top of Henry’s injury and the summer sale of Vieira.
However, he insisted: “There is no panic in the squad. We have only had four games of the season and we have the rest of the season to get more points.
“We still can’t accept our defeat in the last game at Middlesbrough as we didn’t play so badly. We had a lot of chances but when we didn’t take them, we allowed them to believe in themselves.”
The absence of Henry could be especially costly, although Arsene Wenger is hopeful Robin van Persie will recover from a training ground tackle by Emmanuel Eboue, which left the winger fuming.
Gilberto added: “Thierry is a very important player for us, especially as we have not started last season like the previous two or three seasons.
“None of us expected Patrick to leave. For the past two summers, there were a lot of rumours about him joining Real Madrid but he stayed, so we were all surprised when he did leave.
“But the experienced players have to help push all the younger players together, we need to help them to get their confidence. It’s not been a good start for us but this is a good opportunity to get that confidence back.”
While Chelsea strengthened significantly this summer, Belarus midfielder Alexander Hleb, who could cost up to �10million, was Arsenal’s only front-line signing.
“We cannot worry about Chelsea, we must only worry about ourselves as we can’t lose our focus,” stressed Gilberto.
“They have bought a lot of players. That is good for them and not for us, but the manager knows what he is doing for this club.
“All of us are responsible for this club. I’m now the oldest player in the centre of midfield but the responsibility is the same. We all have it.”
As for his own contract situation, meanwhile, with his current deal set to expire at the end of this season, he merely stated: “It’s still close [to being decided]. I hope it will be done as soon as possible.”