Sokratis Papastathopoulos is confident Arsenal will be playing Champions League football next season - which is exactly why he joined the club.

Arsenal took a step towards qualifying for Europe's premier club competition last night by winning the first-leg of their Europa League semi-final against Valencia 3-1.

Two goals from Alexandre Lacazette and one from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Unai Emery’s side a healthy lead to take to Spain next week as they look to secure a spot in the final on 29 May.

Arsenal are currently fifth in the Premier League and two points off Chelsea in fourth with two games to play, but winning the Europa League would earn them a spot in the Champions League next season.

In Pictures | Arsenal vs Valencia, Europa League | 02/05/2019 25 show all In Pictures | Arsenal vs Valencia, Europa League | 02/05/2019 1/25 PA 2/25 Action Images via Reuters 3/25 EPA 4/25 Action Images via Reuters 5/25 AFP/Getty Images 6/25 REUTERS 7/25 AP 8/25 REUTERS 9/25 Action Images via Reuters 10/25 Getty Images 11/25 REUTERS 12/25 AP 13/25 AFP/Getty Images 14/25 REUTERS 15/25 REUTERS 16/25 EPA 17/25 EPA 18/25 EPA 19/25 The Gunners host the first leg of the semi-final tonight. EPA 20/25 PA 21/25 EPA 22/25 EPA 23/25 EPA 24/25 Arsenal FC via Getty Images 25/25 Arsenal FC via Getty Images 1/25 PA 2/25 Action Images via Reuters 3/25 EPA 4/25 Action Images via Reuters 5/25 AFP/Getty Images 6/25 REUTERS 7/25 AP 8/25 REUTERS 9/25 Action Images via Reuters 10/25 Getty Images 11/25 REUTERS 12/25 AP 13/25 AFP/Getty Images 14/25 REUTERS 15/25 REUTERS 16/25 EPA 17/25 EPA 18/25 EPA 19/25 The Gunners host the first leg of the semi-final tonight. EPA 20/25 PA 21/25 EPA 22/25 EPA 23/25 EPA 24/25 Arsenal FC via Getty Images 25/25 Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Sokratis, who moved to Arsenal last summer for around £17m from Borussia Dortmund, joined the club to play in the Champions League and he is confident they will return to Europe’s elite competition next season for the first time since 2017.

“At this moment I believe and I think only this – to play in the Champions League. We can go to the final and why not win the Europa League,” said the defender.

“Of course I came here because I would like to play in the Champions League, I didn't come here to play in the Europa League.

“This is the point, our manager and the staff behind him help us every day, we work a lot with the training, the video, we analyse everything and I hope in the end we are right.

“I hear that everyone speaks about the system, the manager – the manager tries every day to give the best to us, the team and firstly we want to to play in the Champions League.”

Arsenal’s victory last night came off the back of three defeats in a row during which they conceded nine goals.

As a result the Gunners’ defence has been heavily criticised, but Sokratis says the critics do not impact the mental strength of Emery’s squad.

“We are a big family and we are all together, we stay all together,” said the Greece international.

“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.

“Of course we have to improve and we have every game to give 100 per cent and I think the critics are good to hear, to improve, but they do not touch us mentally.

“Of course, when you play at a team like Arsenal and you lose three games of course you hear critics and you have to improve.

“We are here to improve, to give the best for the club, for the fans and for us also.”