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Arsenal, Barcelona set Europe on fire

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Arsene Wenger hopes Petr Cech can extend his record of never conceding a goal to Lionel Messi when Arsenal host European champions, Barcelona in the Champions League last 16 first leg.

The London team aim to make it third time lucky against Barca over two legs having lost to them in 2010 and 2011, their only victory against Barcelona coming with goals from Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin in a 2-1 win in the first leg of their last-16 tie in the latter year.

That victory ultimately proved futile as Lionel Messi, who had scored four times to knock out Arsenal in the 2010 quarter-finals, struck twice in the second leg to secure a 4-3 aggregate win.

But he has yet to find a way past former Chelsea goalkeeper Cech in eight meetings, including a famous victory over Barca in the last four on their way to winning the Champions League trophy four years ago.

“I hope that will give Cech a lot of confidence and will keep him quiet,” said Wenger in a media conference. “I hope that Messi will have a little complex and the history will play for us and against Messi.”

Read also: Welbeck‘s late winner lifts Arsenal over Leicester

Arsenal also lost 2-1 to Barca in the Champions League final a decade ago when goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off in the opening moments.

“Barcelona are super favourites, we need to raise the urgency level,” said Wenger who failed to bring Luis Suarez to the Emirates from Liverpool in 2013, and has admired the Uruguayan’s contribution to Barca since his move to the Camp Nou after the 2014 World Cup.

Suarez is leading goalscorer in La Liga with 25 goals and has scored five times in the Champions League as part of MSN – Messi and Neymar being the other parts of the attacking trio.

“They are the most efficient (forward line) in the world. Messi scored 300 goals in 340 games, I’ve seen many strikers in my life but I’ve never seen a record like that. They are top, top class.”

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