The opportunity of shocking one of football's most powerful teams in history is not something Arsenal's supporters believe to be true. But for Arsene Wenger, this is a golden chance to make history.
After being eliminated in the Round of 16 for four straight seasons, Le Prof believes his men have the knowledge and skills to eliminate the heavily-favoured Blaugranas, despite some shaky performances lately.
"Honestly, of course the difficulty of the task is completely different but it is more difficult to prepare against Hull than Barcelona, because against Barcelona everyone is naturally focused. Tomorrow everyone is convinced that we absolutely need to have, as a squad, total focus to have a chance and that is what I try to raise. Belief, confidence and let’s go for it," Wenger stated in today's press conference.
Facing this version of Barcelona will be even more difficult for the Gunners, as the French manager their opponents deserve every bit of praise they have collected recently.
"No team is perfect, but Barcelona are not far from it. We need to take our chances. We need to be strong defensively as a unit and not put ourselves in front of a very difficult task in the second leg," Wenger added.
The seasoned coach also shared his thoughts about coach Luis Enrique, who has silenced his haters with hard work and dedication.
"I know him and I think he has done a remarkable job at Barcelona. He came there with a bit of skepticism around him and he won the treble in the first year. That’s absolutely remarkable," the coach continued.
Finally, Wenger referred to the dangerous "MSN". Rather than praising Lionel Messi's all around skills, the impact Luis Suárez is having with Los Blaugranas is something that also deservees a fair amount of applause.
"I believe that apart from the individual talent these three have, they have a great solidarity.I believe Suarez gives [cameraderie] to a team. He did it at Liverpool, he did it playing with Cavani and Forlan and did it well. Suarez is the kind of guy who manages to create that spirit in teams," the manager told the team's website.
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