Barcelona Insider Reportedly Admits Club Wanted Arsenal Champions League Draw

A Barcelona “insider” has reportedly expressed delight that the Spanish giants drew Arsenal in the Champions League on Monday, as they seek to retain their European crown.

The tie was the most eye-catching of an intriguing last-16 draw, and the Gunners were seemingly one of the tougher potential opponents for the Blaugrana as they bid to become the first team ever to defend the trophy in its current format. However, the reported Barcelona insider revealed the club are content with their opponent, per the Daily Mirror:

"

This is the draw we wanted. We did not want to play Paris or Juve—but this is more straightforward. We feel we have dodged a bullet.

They’re a complicated and difficult challenge, a ­magnificent adversary. We have to get a good result in London. This will be very important. The road to Milan passes through London for Barca.

"

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Arsenal looked like outsiders to qualify for this stage of the tournament after losing their first two group games, but they recovered well to finish second in their section, with a superb 3-0 win at Olympiakos securing progression. So as they gear up for this clash with the holders, Arsene Wenger’s men will feel as though they have little to lose.

Barcelona, after all, are a formidable foe. As we can see here, Manchester City, who have lost to the La Liga side in the knockout stages in the last two seasons, are pleased another English team has to take up the challenge, per their official Twitter feed:

Arsenal are no strangers to facing Barcelona. In 2010 and 2011 they had the unenviable task of coping with this tremendous team and were beaten on aggregate on both occasions despite turning in stirring performances at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg of both ties; they also lost to the La Liga side in the 2006 final.

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Indeed, although Wenger has a brilliant record when it comes to qualifying for the group stages, the Gunners have really struggled in recent seasons in terms of progressing any further, per Football_Tweet:

From a Barcelona perspective, there probably could have been some more difficult draws. Paris Saint-Germain have certainly looked formidable this season and were unlucky not to top their group, which contained Real Madrid. Juventus, while starting the campaign slowly, seem to have rediscovered some of their spark again too.

Writing Arsenal off would be dangerous, though. In former Blaugrana man Alexis Sanchez the Gunners have a genuine game-changer and a player who will be desperate to prove a point against his former club. 

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In Mesut Ozil, they have a player who is on top of his game, as is evident by these statistics from OptaJoe:

We can expect a brilliant tie, with two exciting games of football. However, as well as Arsenal have done at times this term, Barcelona, with their attacking trident of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, are the big favourites to progress.

The Gunners will feel they can capitalise on some vulnerabilities that the Blaugrana have showcased recently, especially in defence. However, Wenger must formulate a game plan to nullify the influence of the aforementioned trio and as savvy a manager as the Frenchman is, that’s something very few have been able to do during the past 12 months.