Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes that his club has been given the perfect draw in order to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Having gone out of the competition at the last-16 stage of the competition for the last four seasons, Arsenal has this year been given a golden opportunity to progress after having been drawn against French Ligue 1 team Monaco.
Tonight is the first-leg match at the Emirates Stadium in London with Wenger expecting to take a lead with him to Monaco when the two clubs meet for the second-leg on Tuesday the 17th of March at the Stade Louis II.
The Arsenal manager said: “We didn’t do that very well in the last four years so we have an opportunity to do better now.
“In terms of potential, of course Barcelona and Bayern are the favourites but we have to deal with what we get. On paper Barcelona is a stronger team than Monaco.
“It’s always a question of circumstances as well. Easy is a word that you have to ban in the Champions League. The difficulty for us is to not make any mistakes.
“What has happened in the last four years is that we have gone out two times against the winners of the competition.
“We always came out frustrated because we conceded three times a goal at home in the first 30 minutes. That goal knocked us out. It was really tight. We have learnt from that and we can show that.
He added: “I believe we are in a better shape, mentally as well. I am convinced of that.
“We feel as a team that we are on the way up and we can use the Champions League to confirm that.”
In 2006 Arsenal made it to the final only to lose to Barcelona, and the Frenchman admits it will be even harder to get to the final now with teams across Europe having gotten better.
He said: “Of course, we have come so close. We played one final, two semi-finals, four quarter- finals. And that is what you want to do – to go to the end and win it.
“I look around Europe today and there are ten teams who believe they can win it. It is more difficult than ten or 15 years ago because there are more candidates – especially more in England.
“But it is a cup competition. Now it’s a 180-minute game and not a 90-minute game. That means belief, commitment and being in a good period when you play the game.”
