Mikel Arteta was keen to convey a confident tone for his Arsenal side ahead of their monumental battle with Real Madrid on Wednesday evening.

There were also updates on three key players in the group.

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

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

Can we just start with team news please?

The positive one, Ben White, he's managed to train with us today so he will be in the squad.

Thomas Partey, is he fit enough to be involved?

Yeah, he's available. He had a little niggle during the game, that's why he had to come off. But he felt good after the last few days so he's fine. And Jorginho, unfortunately, is not here after the incident of the weekend, he hasn't recovered. So yeah, our thoughts are with him.

How do you approach this game? Do you ignore the fact that you're 3-0 up in the league or do you take that into account?

To win it. The same that we did in London, our preparation has been the things that we have to do, the things that we have to dominate throughout the game in different phases to give us the best possible chance to win the game. That's clear our mindset and then we're going to play tomorrow.

And finally, there's been lots of talk about comebacks and the noise in the stadium tomorrow night. How do you make sure that your players don't get wrapped up in the emotion?

I understand that. It's part of their history and they have the right to be talking about these kinds of scenarios. Ours is very different and our mindset, preparation, our thoughts and how we're going to have the best chance to be better than them in the aspects that are crucial in the game because we're going to try to take the game to places very different to our intentions and if we do that we're going to have a good chance to win the game.

We spoke to Jude Bellingham earlier and he said that the word that is buzzing around in the camp is comeback. What's the key attribute that your team has to show in this game?

The same. The same mindset. The mindset to win, to be brave, to be dominant, to be determined and to have the conviction that we can be better than them and win the game.

Creating your own history has been a real theme for you and your players. Has that been the constant message that you've been sending them through this week?

For sure. When you have to create a story, when you have to build a story, first of all you have to be excited about it. They have to be really prepared about it and then you have to be really convinced about what you want to achieve. Then it's about insisting and going step by step. A lot of clubs have built their history by doing it many times, trying many times, sometimes failing, sometimes being successful. Last year we had an experience and with that one, we want to be better this season and apply that to win the semi-finals which will be only our third time in the history of our football club.

I remember we saw Carlo Ancelotti earlier and he talked about his players needing hearts and b**** for tomorrow night. I just wonder, from what you've seen this season, can your players match and better that in both departments tomorrow night?

Yes, there are three main aspects in the game. There's 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 for what the team has done all season, in a positive context and in a very difficult context, which I think is probably the pathway and why those things happen. So to prepare to a semi-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 tomorrow.

Have you done anything different to prepare this week, even psychologically? Because I think it's quite a strange situation. You're training a lot, yet the Madrid kind of noise is trying to make you believe that you should doubt in some way.

Yes. Hopefully every game we do it differently and it will be very boring. For 70 games, prepare the same plan and the same scenario for the players. So it's a different context, as I said, to the first leg. That's in the past. We take learnings from it, some very good, some others that we have to do still better than we did in London. And then have the capacity to have the intention to take the game where we want and have been able to adapt quickly to any other kind of scenario to take the game where we want again.

How do you block out that external noise? Because the narrative here in Spain is…

It's impossible. Outside, we can do it on the pitch. Now I understand that it's the narrative that is going to give the fuel to them.

But also, my other point was, it's over 100 games since you lost by a three-goal margin. Can you talk about that resilience that you've found in the last couple of years? And what was your message to the team in the dressing room before you left the field?

That we have to do it again. I think it's over 472 days or something like this. But it doesn't matter. We have to prove it now in this context. And that's the beauty of it. That's the challenge and that's the great thing about sports. That we've shown that we are capable of doing it, that has to give us reassurance and confidence that we can do it. And now, let's talk on the pitch and do it on the pitch. It's the only thing that matters.

There's been a lot of talk here in Spain, particularly about the word fear and suggesting that Arsenal are fearful of the Real comeback. Have you seen anything in your players that suggests you've seen any fear in your team this week?

I wouldn't use that word. I think respect, admiration for what they've done in the competition as a club over the years, the history they have, the values that they defend. Unbelievable. Amazing. And inspiration for any coach, any manager, any team. But after that is the competition. It's what we are going to face tomorrow, an opposition that we know very well and that we are determined to go out there and try to win the game.

There was a lot of talk of the videos that people watched over and over again around Declan Rice’s free kicks. Has he been practising more this week?

Yes, he has. And if you can create any more of those moments, that would be amazing. It was a great moment. I think the third goal as well was beautiful to watch, a very collective goal. When you go to that stage, you're going to have big team moments, big individual moments and that's time to do it on the pitch.

If you get it over the line, do you think that's the greatest achievement of your career? Do you sense any nerves at all within this squad ahead of tomorrow's game?

I think it's excitement. When we talk about creating that, look how small the history is. We never won the competition and we are trying to do something now consistently where we can start to dominate the European competition. We have to earn the right tomorrow to do that. This is a big stage, it doesn't get any better than this and I think it's a great opportunity for the team to do it.

Is there any danger that when the players walk onto the pitch, it's going to be in their minds that they can do this, they have done this before? What if we're the next team to come to side?

We have tried to repeat the opposite message. So in the brain of the players, what they have here in the last 72 hours is something completely different. We are very close to them and hopefully that's more powerful than anything else. But again, you have to be out there, you have to experience it, you have to feel it and you have to go through it. That's what we have to do tomorrow.

With Declan Rice's two free-kick goals just in the week, has that kind of whetted the appetite for more from an attacking centre? In terms of midfielders in England, how high would you rank him up there after his performance this season and last season too?

Again, I think he's creating the story with us and that moment is going to be in our history for a while, especially the way he did it, the manner he did it and doing it twice, which is very, very rare. So it's about creating more and now I think he's going to have the belief that he's capable of delivering those kind of moments more and more and that's something very important because if he believes more, it's going to happen more often.