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Arteta: Real Betis defeat a wake-up call for Arsenal
06th August, 2026 06:42 AM
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta believes the club’s first defeat of pre-season will provide valuable lessons after the Gunners suffered a 3-1 loss to Real Betis in Dublin on Wednesday evening, August 5, 2026.
Despite enjoying strong spells during the contest at a sold-out Aviva Stadium filled largely with Arsenal fans, the Premier League side found themselves outplayed by the Spanish outfit, who scored all three of their goals before the interval.
Reflecting on the performance, Arteta admitted the result was frustrating but pointed to encouraging signs in his team’s display.
Arteta disappointed
“I’m disappointed with the result, obviously, because we are here to win football matches,” he said. “We had some fantastic moments in the first half, the way we played, the way we opened them up. We have to score first, clearly, in the two chances that we had before the score.
“I’m very disappointed in the manner that we conceded the first goal, the two giveaways leading to the other two goals. It’s true that the finishing quality from them was exceptional, but to win a football match, you have to compete at a different level, especially in those areas of the pitch and that’s the learning from today.”
The friendly concluded Arsenal’s training camp across Spain and Ireland, with Arteta rotating heavily throughout the match. A total of 25 players featured as the manager continued to assess his squad and carefully manage players returning at different stages of their preparations.
Discussing the extensive changes, the Spaniard explained:
“Yeah, that’s a lot of players and obviously you don’t have that momentum and that rhythm, but we indeed have players coming in at different stages. We cannot risk the play; we need to be really smart about how we’re going to progress them and the entire defeat is a good thing in pre-season to create even more fire in the belly.”
Arteta also expressed his appreciation to the Arsenal supporters who created a vibrant atmosphere throughout the evening, saying their backing made the pre-season fixture feel special.
Dublin atmosphere
“It was incredible the atmosphere that they created in the stadium, so thank you so much to all of them for coming and creating such an atmosphere in a pre-season match and we are very thankful.”
“It’s been 10 days away from home, so we’re looking forward to coming back, seeing some players as well. Martin will be back and then the English and Spanish internationals will be back soon as well. So, we’re going to start to have more and more players at the moment, we still miss a lot of them.”
With the overseas training camp now complete, Arsenal will return to London for the next phase of their preparations, where they are expected to welcome back several first-team players ahead of two home pre-season fixtures at the Emirates Stadium.
