Cape Town – Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey wants to give manager Arsene Wenger a satisfying send-off by winning the UEFA Europa League in his last season at the club.
Wenger will part ways with the Gunners when the season comes to a close, after the club announced last week that he is leaving after 22 years at the helm.
The Frenchman, who signed Ramsey in 2008, has never won a European competition at Arsenal but has the opportunity this season.
The north London outfit are in the Europa League semi-finals, where they will face Atletico Madrid over two legs, and should they lift the trophy they will also secure a Champions League spot for next season.
Ramsey said, according to Sky Sports: "It's a massive motivation, to put the emotional side to one side and use it to go on and win this trophy for him.
"It's going to be weird next season when he's not here but for now he is, and we have to finish the season off as strongly as possible. You've seen with the amount of fans that turned up on Sunday, and the noise they produced when they got right behind the team, and hopefully they can give him the send-off he deserves.
"We all sort of knew that one day he was always going to step down as manager, and that day has come and it was a massive shock to the team.
"But we have to put those emotions behind us and use it as motivation as well to finish off the season strongly, and hopefully we can lift something for him and let the other emotions come in after that when the season is finished. Then we'll go from there."
Kick-off is at 21:05 (SA time) on Thursday.
