Wenger: I don't mind who we get in the next round
Written by Jonathan Chong on Wednesday, March 10, 2010
After yesterday's 5-0 (6-2 on aggregate) win over Porto, manager Arsène Wenger said that he didn't mind who his team got in the next round of the Champions League.
Given our record in recent times against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United, you would think that perhaps it would be best to avoid those two teams, but the manager says that he will take whoever comes out of the draw. Whoever we draw though, Wenger accepts that there is still much to improve on before we can think of progressing further.
Whether it's United, Chelsea or even Barcelona, the feeling is that we're happy to be in the quarter finals of the Champions League, and it also proves our consistency in the competition.
Wenger said: "What I wanted to say, we do not choose Man United or Chelsea. And maybe if I say 'we absolutely do not want to play an English team', I put ourselves in an inferior position at the start. I believe maybe if we get them, that it is a good opportunity to show them we can do well.
"I do not want to say absolutely no on playing an English team because, first of all, I don't have the choice. If I have a choice I would say yes, but I don't have the choice. And if we get them, we cannot do worse than what we did in the league. We can only do better.
"You want to make a story with a story. I will take the draw we get. And I do not want to make a negative obsession of not playing against Chelsea or not playing against Man United. That's all.
"First of all, we are happy to be in the last eight. If you look back at the last five years, I think we were in the last eight a few times. It's never easy to be in the top eight in Europe.
"The negative side of that is you only have good teams now. So Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, certainly. It will be difficult, but in the beginning of the season nobody expected this team to be where we are at the moment.
"But we showed we have mental strength and a good desire. We have good quality. I believe it is more important for our side to continue to improve.
"There are still some weak moments in the game that we can deal with better. And before we speak about Manchester United or Barcelona, it's important that we improve. And then we have a chance."
User Comments
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I will take the draw we get. And I do not want to make a negative obsession of not playing against Chelsea or not playing against Man United.
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