Henrikh Mkhitaryan interview: Inter's evergreen midfielder on the Champions League meeting with Barcelona and more
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
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"It's going to be very interesting," Inter midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan tells UEFA as his side prepare for their UEFA Champions League semi-final opener against Barcelona.
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By the time he signed for Inter in 2022, midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan was 33 and had already retired from international football. However, he has since experienced a number of career highlights, notably a Serie A title last season, and is hoping to line up a second UEFA Champions League final appearance as his side square up to Barcelona in the semi-finals.
Armenia's most celebrated footballing export, Mkhitaryan left hometown club Pyunik in 2009, and has since played for Metalurh Donetsk, Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United, Arsenal and Roma, winning the UEFA Europa League with United in 2016/17 and the UEFA Conference League with Roma in 2021/22. All the time, he says, he has loved playing football, and making his home country proud.
On the semi-final against Barcelona
It's not going to be easy, because they have a very young and talented squad, with a few very experienced players. It's going to be very interesting, because semi-finals and finals are always great to play and to watch, so we hope that we can play our best and play a great two games, first and second leg, and try to reach the final.
For us every game is very important. It doesn't matter if you [are playing in the] Champions League, Italian Serie A championship or Coppa Italia, because at the end of the day, all the games are important, so we're going to try to approach [it] the same way we did against Bayern, against Feyenoord, and the other teams from the league phase and then we'll see where we [can] reach.
On Simone Inzaghi
My relationship [with him] is very good. I know when to be serious with him, I know when to joke with him. I know the limits. He's very intelligent, he's very friendly and he shows that on and off the pitch. You can see it. I'm very happy to meet him at this stage of my football career, because coming to Inter at the age of 33 and being now 36 hasn't been easy, because at this age your performance is going down, it's dropping, but I'm thankful to him that I can still play, I can still show my quality to myself and to the world.
On his season at Inter
At the beginning, it's not that I was struggling. It's just that I wasn't in good shape; it's different, but game after game I was improving, and now I think I'm in good shape. I'm thankful to my team-mates, to the staff that helped me to achieve the level that I'm used to.
It's a hard season. We want to win something this season, because we have a great squad, a great team.
On happiness
Since I was a kid, my happiness has been football and playing football, for me, was everything. I always had a smile on my face; I was always happy. And [even] now, I'm the happiest person because I am doing what I loved to do when I was a child and I love doing even now.
I haven't played for my national team for four years, but when I was playing, I always had the drive, the passion, and the will to win games, because for a country like Armenia winning a game was everything. Being in a club, it's kind of different because you have many international players and everyone is trying to represent their country. I was one of them, doing the same, and I'm happy that I represented Armenia in England, in Italy, in Germany and in Ukraine, wherever I played.