Arsène Wenger says he is convinced Arsenal will score in the first leg of their Champions League tie against Barcelona on Tuesday but has also admitted the priority has to be to keep out the threat of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez, saying an away goal for the reigning champions would represent a “knife in your heart”.
Wenger conceded Barcelona would be “super favourites” and also made the rare admission it was possible his team may simply be “played off the park” by the side who won a treble of Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey titles last season.
His own team have failed to score in four out of their last seven games, but Wenger believes the secret to Arsenal’s hopes of eliminating the holders rests on their defensive structure and making sure they are not so committed to the idea of scoring that they leave themselves vulnerable at the back.
“I think we will score so I am not too concerned,” he said. “It’s true that recently our goals have dried up a bit and we have to find a way to get that going again. But I am more concerned about stopping them from scoring because at home in the Champions League nil-nil is not a bad score.
“We have always made it difficult for ourselves in previous years by conceding goals at home and the rules of the modern European Cup encourage teams to defend at home and attack away because of the importance of the away goal.
“Many times I have said that should be suppressed because if you concede a goal at home in the Champions League it’s a knife in your heart every time. Against big teams it becomes very difficult.”
Wenger, who expressed concerns Alexis Sánchez may be too wound up and potentially not “in the right zone” against his former club, is prioritising the importance of a clean sheet for the return leg at Camp Nou on 16 March.
Arsenal have gone out of the Champions League at the first knockout stage in each of the last five seasons but Wenger said he would resist any temptation to switch to a more defence-minded team.
“It’s against my nature,” he said. “I cannot go into a game and think I will just play for a zero-zero. I don’t believe you can say you are a big club and just want to defend. On the other hand, Barcelona are a very offensive team so to give ourselves no chance at all of scoring against them would make us guilty as well.
“We have to try to score against them because if they have a vulnerability, like us, it is defensively, as it is with any offensive team.”
