“They will want to show people they’re strong, that they are fighting for something”.
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Manager Arsene Wenger then hailed their heroics as the “greatest escape”.
According to a report in The Mirror, a source from the Catalan club has revealed that everyone at Barcelona was over the moon when they heard that they would be facing Arsenal in the two-legged knockout phase in a couple of months.
The group winners will be away in the round of 16 first legs on 16/17 and 23/24 February, and at home in the return matches on 8/9 and 15/16 March.
But it is the game between the pacesetters in Spain and Arsenal which most catches the eye, however.
But Barcelona director Albert Soler said the holders have plenty of respect for Arsenal.
City will be pleased to have avoided the French giants, who looked to be the most unsafe of the sides that qualified as group runners-up.
But Manchester City finally got lucky.
Manchester United was paired with Danish team Midtjylland which takes part in the competition for the first time.
Juventus, who relinquished pole position following their loss to Sevilla, have paid the price.
Another clash of titans involves last year’s finalists Juventus and Bayern Munich as they are to square off.
Barca dumped Arsenal out in the knockout stages in 2010 and 2011, as well as beating them in the 2006 final, and Miles admitted it was not the draw they were hoping for.
“Yeah, I mean Barcelona are full of great players”.
Spurs will be looking to make amends against Fiorentina, after the Italian team ended their Europa League challenge last season with a 2-0 win at White Hart Lane that sealed a 3-1 aggregate victory.
Barcelona said they are also expecting a hard tie. In the aftermath of that game, Ibrahimovic – known for his blatant statements – had accused Chelsea players of being crybabies.
“It’s a knockout game and it depends on the form of those teams over the two legs so I don’t think you can take league form into account”. Arsenal pretty much have made all the mistakes they could have in the group stage and that would serve as a learning curve for them. “If we see ourselves as favorites, things won’t go well for us”, Real Madrid soccer director Emilio Butragueno said.
“We know what can happen if you have 10 poor minutes on a European night”. Barcelona are the standard for all of Europe’s great clubs, even for an individual as stubbornly single-minded as Wenger, and beating the greatest attacking team on the planet would be the kind of achievement that many believe is well beyond him now.
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“Everyone has weak points. We are improving and gaining experience in the competition so we hope to do well”, Begiristain added.
