Arsene Wenger says Barcelona favourites to win Champions League
Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, has labeled Barcelona the favourites in this year’s Champions League. Wenger’s statement comes despite his side’s 2-1 win over Barcelona in the first leg match of the Champions League knockout stages at Emirates Stadium.
However, Wenger believes that the Gunner’s impressive performance will give his young side a lot of self confidence which is bound to come in handy. The Frenchman expressed his jubilation over the win saying, “I am highly delighted. It was a special football
night. The game promised a lot and fulfilled that promise. It was two exceptional teams who tried always to be positive. We are not favorites now, but what is important is the belief that we have a chance. Barcelona are still favorites. We know now that we
can beat them, though. We did not know that last year.”
The match between the two sides last year at the Emirates Stadium, in the quarter-final stage of the competition, ended with a 2-2 draw with the home side coming from behind. Barcelona, however, sealed the tie with a decisive 4-1 win in the second leg at
Camp Nou. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 scored all 4 goals for the home side and the Catalans progressed with an aggregate score line of 6-3.
The difference between last year and this year’s match at Camp Nou will be the fact that Barcelona will go into the game knowing they need to score to go through to the next round. That might open up and expose the home side, allowing Arsenal to play their
natural, fluent counter-attacking football.
Barcelona’s manager, Pep Guardiola, has also acknowledged Arsenal’s counter-attacking abilities and praised the English club on the first leg win. Guardiola commented, ''I think we were okay. We have lost the first leg so we have to win the second leg. We
controlled the play for most of the match but we know they can play very well positionally. They are very good and very fast when they counter-attack. We need to score goals in the second leg. They will attack and we will attack too.”
Arsenal went a goal down in the first half after Barcelona striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robin-van-Persie-c31380 strike which
beat victor Valdes on the near post. Arsenal’s Russian star, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andrei-Arshavin-c5771, got the winner after precise and fast paced passing amongst Arsenal’s players opened up the visitor’s defense.
The second leg will be played on 8 March. Arsenal will go through to the quarter-final if the game ends in a 0-0 draw. Barcelona needs to score at least once to advance in the competition.
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