Arteta tells Gunners to make Real statement

MIKEL ARTETA has told his Arsenal players to be "brave" and write their names into Champions League history.

- John Cross

The Gunners manager insists his side are ready for the challenge and laughed off Carlo Ancelotti's warning that Real Madrid have got the "heart and balls" to overturn a 3-0 deficit from the first leg of their quarter-final. Arteta, left, said: "There are three main aspects in the game - the physical aspect, the technical and tactical aspect and the emotional aspect.

"That emotional aspect is very significant because I have a lot of reassurance from what the team have done all season, in a positive context and in a very difficult context, which is probably the pathway and why those things happen.

"So to prepare for a quarter-final like this and to be convinced that we can handle any situation and we're going to enjoy actually playing any kind of game that we have to be thrown- we have to prove it now in this context.