Sokratis Responds to Arsenal Critics: 'We Are People and Not Robots'

Sokratis Papastathopoulos has hit back at Arsenal's critics after they won their UEFA Europa League semi-final first leg 3-1 against Valencia at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday.

Mouctar Diakhaby netted the opener in north London, but a late Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang goal, combined with Alexandre Lacazette's first-half double, means the Gunners will go to the Mestalla Stadium next week as strong favourites to reach the final in Baku, Azerbaijan, on May 29 (U.S. only):

As such, Arsenal potentially need just one more victory to secure UEFA Champions League football next season via the Europa League.

Qualification for Europe's elite competition via the Premier League now looks unlikely given they have lost their last three games on the bounce to Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City:

Centre-back Sokratis acknowledged there can be benefits to criticism, especially after bad performances, but he moved to defend head coach Unai Emery for his role in Arsenal's poor recent league run, per Charles Watts of Goal: 

"I hear that everyone speaks about the system, the manager. The manager tries every day to give the best to us, to the team. We want to to play in the Champions League. This is the point, our manager and the staff behind him help us every day [to do that]. We work a lot with the training, the video, we analyse everything and I hope in the end we are right.

"I think the critics are good to hear, to improve, but they do not touch us mentally. We are a big family and we are all together, we stay all together. Of course, when you play at a team like Arsenal and you lose three games you hear critics and you have to improve.

"We are here to give the best for the club, for the fans and for ourselves also. I think that the biggest point is that we have to stay focused. In one week, for example, [Laurent] Koscielny makes a mistake or I make a mistake or [Shkodran] Mustafi the same, Nacho [Monreal] too, we are people and not robots."

Sokratis, 30, moved to Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund last summer, and he added he "didn't come here to play in the Europa League."

The Europa League looks increasingly like the best route for Arsenal to return to the Champions League for the first time since 2016-17.

They certainly have the right man at the helm as Emery led Sevilla to Europa League glory three times in succession:

Winning the tournament with Arsenal would surely make Emery's debut season at the club a success, as it would return them to Europe's top table.

It would also be the club's first European trophy since they won the UEFA Cup Winner's Cup in 1993-94.

Assuming the Gunners can hold on to their advantage against Valencia, they will most likely meet Chelsea in the final after they drew 1-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday:

The Blues would like nothing better than to rob their Premier League rivals of a Champions League spot while winning a trophy in the process.

But the Gunners would fancy their chances of beating Chelsea given they won 2-0 when they last met in the Premier League in January.