Familiarity, they say, breeds contempt, and you could understand if Monday’s Champions League draw was greeted with at the very least some frustration, and no little trepidation, by London’s two representatives in the competition. They have great players, players who are known around the world. “We must have maximum respect for Arsenal“, Soler said.
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Apart from these ties, the Champions League draw also threw up some scintillating match-ups between the other bigwigs left in the competition. In the first one, the main focus is to qualify from the group – and it’s no easy feat, some big clubs don’t.
The Gunners have beaten the defending champions just once in seven meetings and even that was not enough to prevent an aggregate defeat in the knockout stages in 2011, their most recent encounter. I hope that Paris will be ready.
“I hope every player in the team will be fit to play Chelsea and achieve our goal”.
Chelsea weren’t immune as they were drawn with the runaway leaders of France’s Ligue 1 Paris St Germain for the second year in a row.
“It’s a very attractive tie for football and for the spectator”.
After a shaky group campaign, which saw the Gunners losing their first two games to Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos, qualification seemed near impossible as the tricky task of back-to-back games against German champions Bayern Munich loomed.
Juventus were finalists a year ago and one of the best teams in Europe.
Chelsea have a few problems at the moment, but they remain a great club with a great coach.
“We did not want to play Paris or Juve – but this is more straight-forward”.
Bayern ambassador Franz Beckenbauer, speaking at the draw, said his club’s clash with Juventus would be “a mouthwatering tie”. “If we see ourselves as favourites things won’t go well for us”, said Real director Emilio Butragueno. Italian teams never give anything away.
In 2010, they drew 2-2 at the Emirates but were smashed 4-1 in the quarter-final second-leg, with superstar Lionel Messi grabbing all four goals.
Rudi Garcia, Roma manager: “Real Madrid will be favourites”. Should English clubs underperform in the knockout stages of the Champions and Europa Leagues, then Serie A could steal the fourth Champions League spot that is now the preserve of La Liga, the Bundesliga and the Premier League.
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But, with confidence on a high after going top of the Premiership with the 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday (before this morning’s match between Leicester City and Chelsea), Wenger’s men will not be afraid of the Catalan giants.
