First off as Barcelona is in Japan for the Club World Cup and will play the Final against Argentinian River Plate, Arsene Wenger remembers the Round of 16 in 2011 against the Blaugrana that Arsenal lost overall winning 2-1 the first leg before falling 3-1 in Barcelona… The Gunners will have a chance for redemption next February when they will face Messi, Suarez and Neymar for an exciting tie.
“We are more mature now. We played against Barcelona with top teams, but very inexperienced and very young. Barcelona were in full power but we still managed to beat them and it was always very tight.
We have never been beaten [comprehensively] and we were sometimes unlucky as well. That is in our minds. That is deep in my body as well. I do not forget that. We have a chance, an opportunity to put things right, and we’ll focus on that.
We are playing against a team that have the trophy and are the best team in Europe and I think we have a good chance to go through. It is a difficult challenge but an exciting one as well.”
In the Premier League, Arsenal will face Manchester City on Monday and it is a must watch.
“It looks to be very tight. We have played 16 games and the top team is on 35 points, so it means that the Premier League could be decided at around 80 points.
“If you look at the results it looks as though the consistency will be the main priority in this league because every week you are surprised by the results. We have really established a good run so for us it’s important to continue that.
“It is a massive game [on Monday]. When we play at home you want to win because we are ambitious and we feel we have the chance to come out in a strong position after Christmas.
“It will be a very tight game because if you look at the numbers since the start of the season, offensively and defensively the numbers are very close. Manchester City has huge individual potential with David Silva and Sergio Aguero coming back and so we will need a top, top-level team performance.”
