Barcelona’s dynamic attacking trio of Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi were all on target in a 3-1 victory over Arsenal on Wednesday that sent the Spanish side into the Champions League quarter-finals 5-1 on aggregate.
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Wenger defended the Gunners European record after crashing out in the last 16 stage for a sixth year running after the game at Camp Nou.
“I am disappointed with the result but we played a team with the best three strikers I’ve seen”.
“The only team I want to keep away from us is Barca and I think we have no chances to meet them”, he joked.
“I think the performance was first of all good”, he told BT Sport.
Mohamed Elneny’s first goal for the club early in the second-half gave the visitors hope, but a sensational volley from Suarez put Barca back in control before Messi’s cool dinked finish rounded off the scoring. “We could not take our chance to score the second goal to put ourselves in a good position”.
Barca coach Luis Enrique names his strongest available side in the absence of Gerard Pique through suspension.
It’s the same in the Premier League, they say, where Wenger and the Arsenal board appear happy with finishing in the top four.
Arsenal started with confidence, unlike that of a team that has won just twice in their last eight games, and Welbeck should have done better when played in on goal by Mesut Ozil but the former Manchester United man stumbled and was lucky to win a corner.
Wenger’s concession about Barcelona will likely do little to ease the discontent he is facing from certain sections of Arsenal’s supporters. In football, you look the last game and you look at the positives.
Arsene Wenger may have seen Arsenal knocked out of the Champions League at the hands of Barcelona – but he believes his side have shown they can still fight for domestic success this season.
While Wenger bemoaned his side’s inability to make the most of their chances, the French tactician couldn’t help but reveal how impressed he was with the opposition.
Barring a dramatic final few weeks in the Premier League, Arsenal are therefore fated to end the season without a trophy and, on the evidence of recent performances, their biggest challenge may be to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
“We have players on their day can solve many situations”.
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“I’m not sure if he will still be there in the summer, if they don’t win the league”.
