Arsene Wenger expects Arsenal's victory against Real Madrid to inspire his new-look team to even greater heights.
Wenger could not hide his pride after watching his young players overcome the Galacticos to reach the last eight of the Champions League.
The Arsenal boss said: "I believe something is happening in the team. They are growing in confidence.
"They have shown character and to show such a determined attitude is fantastic. They have not only quality but character and when you look at the average age of the team it is fantastic."
The Gunners drew 0-0 at Highbury yesterday and went through on aggregate after winning 1-0 in the Bernabeu two weeks ago.
They did it without key players like Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Robin van Persie and Lauren, who were all injured. Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp started on the bench and new signing Emmanuel Adebayor was cup-tied.
Wenger added: "The question was always about how we would respond to Real Madrid at their best but they had a real go at us and that's why I feel this result will improve our confidence.
"We played a good Real Madrid side and we didn't have the surprise element in the second leg.
"Sometimes this season we have been kicked off the park without protection.
"Maybe we were a bit young and we couldn't face up to that.
"We tried to be faithful and sometimes we even looked naive because we tried to play football.
"We always had the basic values at our club. We didn't always have that in November and December but we worked on it and the players have shown the qualities we want them to show."
Arsenal are the last remaining British team in the competition after Chelsea, Liverpool and Rangers were all eliminated this week.
