Mikel Arteta clearly took Liverpool's "bridesmaid" taunting personally

When Mikel Arteta took his Arsenal side to face the newly crowned Premier League champions Liverpool in May 2025, he was taunted by a sign that displayed him as a bridesmaid following a third consecutive second-place finish.

The image depicted the Spaniard in a red dress along with the wording "always the bridesmaid, never the bride" and the Reds' crest, 20 league titles and six stars to represent their number of Champions League wins.

That continued to haunt the Gunners and their boss in the two meetings between the clubs during the 2025/26 season, but Arteta has now responded to that taunting in the most perfect way possible.

Mikel Arteta clearly took Liverpool's "bridesmaid" taunting personally

When the banner was first seen, Arsenal had just failed to win the Premier League for the third season in a row as a dismal campaign saw them complete a consecutive treble of second-place finishes.

Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino found the back of the net as the Gunners came from behind to draw 2-2 with Liverpool, but the result had no bearing on the outcome of the term as Arteta's side ultimately finished 10 points off the champions.

The North Londoners travelled to Anfield just a few months later in their third game of the 2025/26 season, and as they fell to a stunning late Dominik Szoboszlai free kick, they found themselves taunted and labelled as the bridesmaids once again.

Arsenal and Liverpool's return meeting at the Emirates Stadium saw them play out a dull 0-0 draw on a cold January night, but despite the hosts leading the league and the visitors finding themselves in a battle to stay in the Champions League places, the Merseyside faithful made sure to remind the Gunners of their status as Premier League champions.

However, that didn't last long as the trophy made its way from the North West to the English capital when Arsenal were confirmed as champions in May, ending Arteta and his side's long wait to claim one of football's biggest prizes.

While the Gunners had silenced the likes of Liverpool and their other rivals by finally winning the title, their fans and the media hadn't forgotten about the banner the Reds fans so proudly held up a year prior.

Asked about the banner and if he feels his team get respect as champions in his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday's trip to Anfield, Arteta said: "I always felt that the opponents, the way they talked and behaved on the pitch towards us, it was with full respect. The same that we do with any opponent, they are champions or not."

As always, the Spaniard showed his class by not being baited in to giving a reaction that no doubt would have dominated the headlines and put even more pressure on his side as they travelled to arguably the Premier League's toughest ground.

Instead, he oversaw a 1-0 win at Anfield to end Arsenal's 14-year winless run on the red half of Merseyside and make the Gunners the first team to prevent Liverpool from having a shot on target for the first time in a match at their home stadium.

While Arteta didn't provide a headline-worthy response to the banner that highlighted an inability to get his team over the line, he did react in the perfect way. Since the Spaniard was labelled "the bridesmaid", he has won the Premier League title and brought a conclusion to his side's dismal period at Anfield while Liverpool finished fifth (25 points behind the champions) and now find themselves battling for Europe in a new era. Now that is how you respond.

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